by Trey Nosrac

My all-time favorite magazine job was writing quirky previews of films scheduled to screen at the Cleveland International Film Festival. Getting the columns to the public was not a simple process. About a month before the annual 10-day festival, a list with a couple hundred foreign movies and a synopsis of each would arrive in the mail. Like a kid in a candy shop, always on the lookout for foreign films about baseball, horses, or horse racing, I would choose six movies to review and mail the list back.

In a few days, formatted and coded DVDs of the films would arrive. It was very James Bond-ish. I would watch the films, write reviews, mail the movies back to the festival, and send my reviews to the magazine. The editor would edit and schedule the layout and graphics. The magazine went out to subscribers before the films appeared at the festival. The timing was critical. Too early, people would forget. Too late, the movie would be gone and unavailable to the public.

Twenty years ago, one of the first previews published in the magazine was titled Zafir, a horse film from Norway. I don’t remember much about the movie, but the horse was massive, and I referred to him as “The Dinosaur.” I dropped silly tidbits such as, “His hooves were bigger than pie tins, the subtitles required a speed reader, and Norse people seemed suspiciously happy.” What fun.

Before I get to a new harness horse racing movie for your consideration, take a moment to consider how the world has shifted in the 20 years since that little Norwegian film preview.

• Movie theaters are disappearing like the Norwegian ice caps.

• DVDs are gathering dust in closets.

• The magazine that ran these reviews has been out of business for 15 years.

• The methods of making movies have changed dramatically.

• The distribution of films is in turmoil.

• The jobs of most magazine editors, writers, photographers, and film reviewers no longer exist.

• Mailing paperwork back and forth is quaint.

Imagine how unintelligible the following sentence would sound to someone seated next to you at one of those film festivals before the Internet:

“The algorithms of my server feed learned that I enjoy movies and harness horse racing because a Facebook post and video popped up on my iPad with a clip from a streaming company, so I clicked.”

Well, that is what happened.

The job of a movie reviewer has been DOGED for a long time. Today, you can Google or use AI to pull up hundreds of crowdsourced reviews. You can find a trailer. You can investigate a film company, the performers, and the producer. Time is almost irrelevant.

I want to share a harness racing movie with you in 2025. Instead of writing a review, my new position is Movie Alert Person (MAP). You take control after a quick nudge and a few descriptions.

The name of the film is Ride Above. Set in France on the spectacular Normandy Coast and based on a children’s book, the film is about two hours long. If you enjoy harness horse racing, you will not go more than a few minutes without seeing magnificent trotters in barns, training sessions, qualifiers, births, or races. The sport is integral to the movie. The acting and filming are excellent.

A movie alert from someone like Moi can do more than place the production on your radar. It can guide you through access to the movie, which can sometimes be expensive and tricky. For Ride Above, it was neither. I merely googled Angel Films and searched around, just as you probably have done a thousand times.

I found the site interesting. The family-oriented streaming company is somewhat interactive, which is a neat concept. Visitors must join the Angel Guild (a membership) for around a $100 annually to watch their movies. However, since I was only interested in Ride Above, I had the option of a one-month membership for $12, $3 less than I paid for a ticket to watch Willy Wonka. I also have access to several additional Angel films for a month. Of course, if you join for a month, you must remember to renew or cancel.

My MAP alert work is complete for this harness racing film. I like the new gig. It is no longer up to the reviewer to rate the movie from A to F, from one to 10, or even good or bad. The movie alert job does not require the writer to worry about spoiling the plot. You get the nudge, and it’s all up to you.