Hot Blood: A Strange Obsession with a Horse

If you're in the mood for something that feels like it was dug out of a dusty trunk in an attic, Hot Blood might scratch that itch. It’s for the folks who like old-school melodrama where everyone is constantly stressed about their social standing and, bizarrely, one specific racehorse.

If you prefer your movies to actually move at a brisk pace or have a plot that doesn't feel like a circular argument, you’ll probably want to skip this one. It’s not exactly high-octane entertainment.

The whole thing kicks off with this once-wealthy Hungarian family looking absolutely miserable about their current lack of status. Their solution? Get the racehorse back. Of course. Because nothing screams 'financial stability' like buying back a high-maintenance animal you can't afford.

Marika Rökk is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. There's a moment about halfway through where she’s just staring at the horse, and you can tell she's wondering why the writers didn't give her more to do than just look concerned. It’s funny in a sad way.

The cinematography is… well, it exists. It’s very static. Sometimes I felt like the camera operator had fallen asleep, but then they’d suddenly zoom in on a piece of furniture for no reason. Maybe the chair was important? Who knows.

I found myself thinking of Tangled Hearts while watching this, mainly because both films suffer from characters who refuse to just have a normal conversation. They prefer to pace around rooms and act like the world is ending every five minutes. It gets tiring.

There’s a scene involving a dinner party that drags on for an eternity. The tension is supposed to be thick, but it mostly just feels like everyone is waiting for the soup to get cold. The background actors look like they’d rather be literally anywhere else.

Is it a masterpiece? Hardly. It’s a bit of a relic. But there’s a strange charm to how serious they take the horse business. It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in Milenky starého kriminálníka, though without the same level of actual wit.

Don't expect a deep dive into the human condition. It’s just a story about some people who really, really want a horse. Sometimes that’s enough, I guess. 🐎

The ending felt abrupt, like they suddenly ran out of film stock and decided to call it a day. It’s messy, it’s imperfect, and I’m honestly not sure if I’d watch it again. But hey, it kept me off my phone for an hour.