Review: Lean On Pete

Image courtesy of A24.

For his past two films, director Andrew Haigh has explored characters with complicated pasts that are hinted at rather than shown as they find themselves taking on new challenges or revelations. In his previous film, "45 Years," a wife comes to terms with a secret from her husband's past. In Haigh's latest picture, the coming of age drama "Lean On Pete," a young man named Charlie (Charlie Plummer) finds himself adrift and on the run with a stolen horse.

We learn that Charlie's mother had run off years before and his deadbeat father, Ray (Travis Fimmel) - with whom Charlie now lives - had gotten into a fight with Charlie's aunt that led to an estrangement. Often left home alone by his womanizing father, Charlie spends his time jogging or milling about Portland, Oregon, where he and Ray have recently moved. He doesn't appear to be in school, but it is unclear at what season of the year the film is set.

One day while running, Charlie is summoned by a cantankerous man named Del (Steve Buscemi), who asks the boy to help him load up his truck. Del races horses and Charlie instantly becomes interested in the animals, especially one named Lean on Pete that takes a shine to the boy. Soon, Charlie finds himself working as an assistant to Del and traveling - along with a jockey named Bonnie (Chloe Sevigny) - to races.

But Charlie becomes nervous about Lean on Pete's future after he realizes that Del sells off horses once they begin losing races and that they are sent to be slaughtered in Mexico. This tension is doubled when Charlie's father is hospitalized after being gravely injured by a man with whose wife Ray was sneaking around. Upon failing to convince Del to spare Lean on Pete and Ray succumbing to his injury, the boy and horse flee on a cross-country odyssey, with the intention of seeking out Charlie's estranged aunt.

While the film's first half is an often moving, occasionally inspiring hard-luck story, its second half becomes increasingly heavy as Charlie's money begins to dwindle and he finds himself homeless. He is taken in by a seemingly friendly man (Steve Zahn), who becomes violent when drunk, and depends on the kindness of several strangers for food and shelter.

The film's greatest strength is its lived-in performances by the cast. Buscemi's character is gruff, but obviously has affection for Charlie - that is, until the boy threatens his bottom line. Sevigny's Bonnie is also a tough character, but mostly due to her own education in the school of hard knocks. A scene during which she rattles off the various injuries she has suffered as a jockey is particularly grueling. Even minor characters - such as one of Ray's flings, who cooks Charlie breakfast - are given enough characterization to make them feel like real people.

The story details of "Lean on Pete" feel familiar - a hard-knock upbringing story, a road trip storyline, characters skirting the poverty line and various coming of age elements that have been explored on film more times than I could count - but the execution is effective, and the writing and performances are strong - plus, the film makes great use of Oregon's gorgeous vistas. Haigh has a knack for capturing the way people speak, interact and withhold, and "Lean on Pete" exemplifies this.