'Lean on Pete' A Review

Lean on Pete is a coming-of-age drama about Charley(Charlie Plummer), a teen in a low-income Portland suburb who lives with his father Ray(Travis Fimmel). On a run one morning Charley runs into Del(Steve Buscemi) a race horse owner who he begins to work for. Charley connects with one of the horses, Lean on Pete, who's companionship he relies on when his life begins to fall apart.

Plummer gives a remarkably restrained and potent performance. Striking a perfect balance of naivete and morality which could easily come across as immature unintelligence in less capable hands. He draws us in but we are not protected by sentimentality, it's clear early on there may be no happy ending. He has one of the greatest scenes of the year to date, walking through the desert talking about his past to the indifferent Pete. Fimmel's layabout but loving father slowly and surprisingly subverts expectation. Buscemi is always compelling and here is able to play a character a bit harder, a bit more emotionally buttoned up, the Buscemi temper and loquaciousness is put away from a turn more stoic. The other notable cast member is Chloë Sevigny as jockey Bonnie who exudes a physical confidence and pragmatism lending both authenticity and emotional balance to the film. All the cast give grounded, complex performances, numerous scenes layered with meaning and inference.

The film is composed of a series of vivid vignettes that follow Charley as he struggles to make sense of his life, find purpose, and move forward. The lack of sentiment can seem brutal but there is an ember of hope in the film, a celebration of perseverance and endurance. And all the characters that populate it are fully formed, authentic, and gripping despite or perhaps because of the grey, weathered, morality most of them have.

Not sweet but honest, not uplifting but affirming.

See It.