Someone to Steal Horses With (2025)

-Written by Kyle Bain.

Close your eyes…

What begins as a scene right out of Grand Theft Auto quickly shifts to something dark and heavily disturbing. Someone to Steal Horses With is hauntingly narrated by a horse (Liam) coming to terms with his turbulent past—and we’re along for the ride. 

Someone to Steal Horses With is a strangely visceral experience, one that challenges the bounds of what we know and are capable of understanding. What does the whistle of a teakettle mean? Why do we avoid the seam on our couch? Everything means something, and Writer-Director Dylan Pailes-Friedman wants viewers to understand and appreciate this sentiment. With that being said, however, it can be incredibly challenging to appropriately absorb the information being thrown at us. To some degree I feel that Pailes-Friedman wanted to challenge the capacity to which we could retain enigmatic information, how we would respond to the idea that an animated horse is more existential than the smartest person you know. In short: Pailes-Friendman wants to challenge the extent to which we live. 

Someone to Steal Horses With isn’t just existential—it’s an existential crisis. Viewers, in the oddest of ways, are forced to face their demons. 

What I find so compelling about Someone to Steal Horses With is the use of animation to bring this story to life. I don’t believe that this film could have survived as a live-action short, however, the simplistic computer-generated images are just that, simple. They don’t awe viewers, they don’t force viewers to think about the implications of what this means for the animation team going forward—we simply accept that we are going to see rudimentary animated figures throughout the duration of Someone to Steal Horses With. Don’t misconstrue my meaning, however. What intrigued me was the gargantuan juxtaposition between the aforementioned animation and the content of the short film.

To some degree seeing and hearing a roughly animated horse reveal information of immense importance is almost laughable, but that’s a good thing. By ironically inserting comedy into Someone to Steal Horses With, viewers aren’t overwhelmed by the heavy nature of the horse’s words. Furthermore, as the horse continues to speak, the levity that exists at one end of the film is effectively combatted on the other. An impressive balance is achieved in the early going, and Pailes-Friedman and his team never look back once they get going. 

If I could use one word to describe Someone to Steal Horses With it would be abstract. The viewer is forced to look beneath the surface of the film, forced to analyze every movement, every word. This isn’t art for the sake of art; it’s art with a purpose—however, it’s up to viewers to unearth that meaning. 

From the simplistic visuals, to the heartfelt and existential meaning, to the haunting voice of Liam, Someone to Steal Horses With is far better than I could have expected. The initial shock of being dropped into a scene out of GTA, to the harsh realities spoken by the horse—this film doesn’t falter. 

…now open your eyes.

Written & Directed by Dylan Pailes-Friedman. 

Starring Masaki Ishikawa, Anna Lawrence, Tino Martyn Kellighan, Hardeep Pandhal, Corey Hughes, etc. 

9/10 = DROP EVERYTHING AND WATCH IT NOW