Lean on Pete

Looking at the barely-surviving Midwest underclass in the US through the story of a teenage boy and the horse he relies on as his situation gets increasingly dire, this is not exactly the most uplifting or gentlest of stories. But it has a raw honesty to it, whether it be through the performances (Charlie Plummer’s determined but naïve boy, Steve Buscemi and Chole Sevigny as the resolutely practical trainer and jockey who he works with) or the unfussy style that director Andrew Haigh applies to the film. The film turns the knife a few times more than is necessary in the last 15 minutes - one particular incident about twenty minutes before the end feels like it should be the climax of the film,  and instead the film piles on more events before reaching resolution (and the performances continue to be good here, it’s just … I don’t know the extra material really justifies the screentime in terms of theme or characterisation – I know this is based on a novel, but this feels like the bit of the novel you cut for the movie). That doesn’t completely ruin the film but it does water down my appreciation a little bit.