Daniel Minahan’s midcentury drama “On Swift Horses” is not so much a movie as a mood piece — an assemblage of beautifully shot scenes in which lovely people attractively smoke, lie moodily in bed and act on erotic impulses that may or may not work out in their favor. At its center is a triangle, though not the usual type: Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones), her husband Lee (Will Poulter) and Lee’s brother Julius (Jacob Elordi). As the three attempt to begin a new life after the men return from the Korean War, with Muriel and Lee moving to California and Julius finding his way to a shady life in Las Vegas, the triangle becomes something of a pentagon, with Muriel finding herself attracted to her neighbor Sandra (Sasha Calle) and Julius entering a dangerous relationship with a fellow card cheat, Henry (Diego Calva).

Based on a 2019 novel by Shannon Pufahl, “On Swift Horses” belies its title by being undeniably slow, but that’s by design. This movie isn’t so much about what happens as how it happens — we’re not meant to wonder about the logic of Muriel winning an astonishing sum of money at the racetrack and casually concealing it in her home (really, she couldn’t find a better place to hide it than just stashing it loosely behind a perilously hanging mirror?), but to marvel at the way she lights up at the win, looking happier than she ever looks with Lee. It’s about how finding a small, square matchbook with a hotel logo can change a life, and about how a long silence between a husband and wife in a car can feel as complicated as any novel.

“On Swift Horses” often gets a little too arty for its own good; it’s not always easy to tell dreams from reality in this movie, and there’s a horse wandering through the plot that sometimes seems like a metaphor, and sometimes like an actual horse. And Lee, despite Poulter’s best efforts, often seems lost in a narrative that isn’t interested in him other than his good looks. But looks are the point here. Nobody in this movie would be out of place in a glamorous old-Hollywood drama, which is kind of what “On Swift Horses” is trying to be — and, most of the time, coming pretty close.

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'ON SWIFT HORSES'

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for sexual content, nudity and some language)

Running time: 1:59

How to watch: In theaters April 25

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