Out gay writer-director Andrew Haigh brings an engaging, sensitive and moving drama in his adaptation of Willy Vlautin’s novel, “Lean on Pete.” The film, which opens at the Landmark Ritz Five on April 20, tells the story of Charley (Charlie Plummer), a teenager who cares for the title Quarter Horse one summer.
Charley is a bright, curious teen living an almost-hand-to-mouth existence with his father, Ray (Travis Fimmel), in Oregon. When Charley runs by a local horse track one day, Del (Steve Buscemi) asks him for some help with his truck. Charley is soon accompanying Del on an overnight trip to race horses, one of them being Lean on Pete.
The teen, who is, Del observes, “a natural, and not afraid of hard work,” finds meaning and purpose assisting Del. At the races, Charley also meets Bonnie (Chloë Sevigny), a flinty jockey who tells him, “You can’t get attached to the horse. You can’t think of them as pets. They are here to race.” Charley hears this message but ignores it.
“Lean on Pete” chronicles Charley’s growing bond with Pete as a situation arises that puts Charley’s father in the hospital. When Del plans to sell Pete after a poor performance in a claiming race (where horses are sold), Charley decides to take matters into his own hands and save Pete. Haigh depicts these difficult, painful and arguably poor decisions without judgment; viewers will be rooting for both Charley, a good kid in a bad spot, and Pete, a beautiful animal who doesn’t deserve the cruel fate that awaits him.
As the film turns into a road movie — Charley strikes out in search of his aunt Margy — “Lean on Pete” hits its stride. Charley, who has no money, uses his wits to get by. He siphons gas and tries to steal what he can’t afford. He is sympathetic even when he behaves badly — as when he tries to walk out on a check at a diner — and Plummer’s remarkable, affecting performance is the reason why. The gawky young actor uses body language to convey his emotions. Plummer is especially adept at trying to be invisible — as when he dines and dashes — but also very expressive and revealing in a pair of “mirror” scenes, such as one where he adjusts his father’s belt around his thinner hips.
Plummer impressively exudes innocence and confidence, sometimes in the same scene. When he talks with Bonnie about the shocks and drugs Del gives Pete to make him race faster, Charley gets a lesson in how people sometimes behave to survive. He also learns how to work a losing situation to one’s advantage.
But the actor really distinguishes himself in a series of monologues while walking Pete, talking to his horse about a camping trip where he was scared, or about how his mother left him. These are poignant scenes that are all the more emotional because of how Haigh frames Charley and Pete within the vast, deserted landscape.
The film’s fantastic cinematography is by Magnus Nordenhof Jønck, who employs an earth-toned palette that captures the harsh beauty of the landscape and the hardscrabble lives of the characters who inhabit it.
“Lean on Pete” shifts gears again as it heads toward its homestretch. Charley has a series of encounters with people he meets on his journey. One of the most revealing episodes has him entering a house shared by Dallas (Lewis Pullman) and Mike (Justin Rain), two vets. At a dinner that night, Charley confronts an overweight young woman who has been verbally abused by her father all evening. He asks her, with the same innocence and confidence he had when he questioned Bonnie about juicing Pete, why the young woman absorbs all the hate. Her response is absolutely heartbreaking, but it also truly captures the same despair Charley feels. It is an extraordinary moment, as moving as a later scene where Charley breaks into a house and quietly observes what it must be like to live as a normal, happy family.
When Charley later ends up at a homeless shelter and meets Silver (Steve Zahn), an addict who offers him a place to stay for a night, Charley responds with the resourcefulness he has developed while also showing how hardened he has become. By the time “Lean on Pete” ends, Charley is a different person, and viewers will ache at how he has endured.
Haigh may try to jerk tears from viewers throughout this bleak but tender drama, but “Lean on Pete” never feels manipulative. Audiences will likely be as attached to this bittersweet film as Charley is to his horse.