Dream Horse

Sports underdog stories tend to be formulaic, but they can also be really enjoyable. In this podcast episode, HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano discuss an inspirational film based on a true story, "Dream Horse," in which Toni Collette portrays a working-class woman in a charming Welsh village who decides to raise a race horse. She may not know much about racing, but she's determined and, moreover, she and her neighbors form a business collective to train a horse that's aptly named Dream Alliance. This is such a crowd-pleasing film that even Mike liked it. The remainder of the episode is spent discussing an Australian crime drama, "The Dry," in which Eric Bana stars as a cop returning to his home town in order to investigate a murder case involving a friend of his from high school. The cop also finds himself investigating the mysterious drowning years ago of his teen girlfriend. Although Marie and Mike had a lukewarm response to the film's slow space and confusing use of flashbacks, it definitely held their interest.