Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Acclaimed English director Andrew Haigh (Weekend; 45 Years) came back this year with Lean on Pete, a story about a boy and his horse. That very phrase, “a boy and his horse,” conjures images of sweetness and ultimately sadness. Haigh is fully familiar with the concept of the bittersweet. Here, he’s working from a novel by Willy Vlautin and crossing the sun-kissed lap of America, just a boy. And his horse. Oh God, is it going to be too sad? Read on…
LEAN ON PETE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: Charley (Charlie Plummer) is a teen who gets a job on a racehorse farm working for the impeccably gruff Del (Steve Buscemi). He’s a good, gentle kid who takes to one horse in particular, the meek Lean on Pete. Charley is also dealing with a loutish fuckup of a father (Travis Fimmel), who’s been taking up with a married woman, something that ends up having dire consequences for both him and Charley. When everything starts to fall apart for Charley, he hits the road, with Lean on Pete in tow, headed across the country and trying to find a place to stay.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: 2018 has turned into the year of the horse movie. The horses and the young, semi-broken protagonist, as well as the conceit of taking in the lost corners of America, both bring to mind the Chloe Zhao film The Rider. The two films would make for a fantastic double-feature. Haigh’s own previous films, the gay romance Weekend and the fracturing-older-couple film 45 Years, comment on Lean on Pete more in passing. In all three, Haigh shows a fondness for lingering on his actors within scenes, letting them carry the work of plot developments.
Performance Worth Watching: Lots of great ones to choose from. Steve Buscemi adds a jolt of cranky personality to the first half of the film, and it is an unadulterated kick to see Chloe Sevigny show up as a jockey. At one point, she and Charley tour the grounds at a county fair, and she orders an elephant ear, and I never knew I needed exactly that. But this movie belongs to Charlie Plummer, who had a decent showcase as the kidnap victim in All the Money in the World but whose performance here should line him up plenty of work in the future.
Single Best Shot: Haigh is phenomenal at shooting the natural beauty of these American landscapes. There are shots of Charley and Lean on Pete wandering through the sagebrush that are simply gorgeous. This particular nighttime shot at a crucial moment in the film is legitimately breathtaking.
Memorable Dialogue: At one point, after disembarking from another way station, Charlie speaks softly to his horse: “Gotta keep going. This isn’t our home.” It’s a solid theme for the film itself.
Our Take: Andrew Haigh hasn’t made a bad movie yet, and in this transition into the American realm, he proves his talents are more versatile than we even knew. There are sad moments in store, but it’s a story told quite beautifully, and with it streaming for free on Amazon Prime, you’d be foolish not to give it a look.
Our Call: Stream it.
