Malkovich and Rockwell Shine in McDonagh’s ‘Wild Horse Nine’ at Venice

At the Venice Film Festival, writer-director Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine continues his exploration of fractured male bonds, a hallmark of his previous works In Bruges and The Banshees of Inisherin. Set in 1973 Santiago, Chile, the film follows two CIA agents, Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell), on a covert mission to destabilize the democratically elected government of socialist president Salvador Allende.

While the screenplay is dense with McDonagh’s signature quips—often leaning into self-aware cleverness—the emotional core rests firmly on the performances of its leads. Malkovich portrays Chris as a man nearing the end of his life and career, suffering from cancer and heroin addiction. He is a paradoxical figure: a secret operative who has killed 68 people and possibly influenced the JFK assassination, yet who gently escorts moths out of his apartment rather than swatting them.

“Sometimes I think I care about the moths in Chile more than I care about the people in Chile,” Chris muses in one pensive moment, revealing the moral ambiguity that defines his existence. Despite his ruthless profession, he finds genuine solace in Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and a spiritual connection with the wild horses of Easter Island, where he and Lee are dispatched to see the famous “big heads.”

Rockwell’s Lee serves as the grounding straight man to Chris’s erratic philosophy. The duo shares a long history that allows them to intuit each other’s moods, even as they bicker constantly. Lee is protective of his partner yet unafraid to tell him the truth, offering a performance defined by listening rather than just line delivery.

Supporting roles include Steve Buscemi as MJ, the agents’ ruthless boss, and a pair of student tourists played by Ailín Salas and Mariana Di Girólamo. Among the film’s comedic highlights is Chris’s unsystematic but oddly compelling theory on which countries produce the best cheese based on their political orientation.

True to McDonagh’s style, the film avoids excessive sentimentality. The noble horse Chris befriends meets a gentle but unexplained end, echoing the fate of the donkey in The Banshees of Inisherin. However, critics note that Wild Horse Nine possesses a warmth distinct from the condescension some saw in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Malkovich embraces the role with visible delight, delivering his cynical observations with a bounce that suggests he is having fun, thereby inviting the audience to enjoy the character’s flawed humanity. As one of the year’s notable entries in competition, the film proves that McDonagh’s often arch sensibilities still yield powerful opportunities for actors at play.