Dream Horse
Year: 2021
Studio: Film4 Productions, RAW, Ffilm Cymru Wales, Ingenious Media, Topic Studios
Director: Euros Lyn
Cast: Toni Collette, Owen Teale, Damian Lewis, Karl Johnson, Siân Phillips, Joanna Page
Crew: Daniel Battsek (Executive Producer), Sue Bruce-Smith (Executive Producer), Pauline Burt (Executive Producer), Stephen Dailey (Executive Producer), Joely Fether (Executive Producer), Ollie Madden (Executive Producer)
Runtime: 113 minutes
Release: May 21, 2021
IMDb: 7.00/10 by 127 users
Popularity: 1
Country: United Kingdom, United States of America
Language: English
Budget: 20,000,000
Revenue: 6,435,260

This is quite an enjoyable true-life tale of a group of Welsh villagers who form a racehorse syndicate with a few pounds and take their horse to the pinnacle of Welsh steeplechasing. Toni Collette (Jan) leads a pretty mundane existence with husband Brian (Owen Teale). Her evening job down the local working men's club introduces her to accountant Howard (Damian Lewis) who had dabbled in racehorse owning - to his cost - in the past. She is intrigued by the idea, does some research and after drumming up quite a degree of community support, she has managed to cheaply procure a thoroughbred and convince trainer Philip Hobbs (Nicholas Farrell) to train the thing. What ensues is a roller-coaster ride for all the villagers as they meet the triumphs and disasters of their horse "Dream Alliance". The story is simple and engaging, as are the supporting performances from Karl Johnson as Kerby, the feisty Lynda Baron and the enthusiastic Dame Siân Phillips, who all enter into the rather joyous spirit of the thing. The fate of their syndicate is history, and the film stays fairly true to that, so if you are looking for a couple of hours of gentle entertainment with some rousing Welsh singing, then this is for you. I enjoyed it.