LEAN ON PETE (2017)

At its best, writer/director Andrew Haigh makes this boy-and-his-horse coming-of-age tale strong & affecting, an indie period piece* that elides sentimentality or unearned nobility.  The problem is that it’s not always at its best.  In a strong cast that feels non-professional but isn’t, soft-spoken, deceivingly fragile-looking teen Charlie Plummer is a standout as the boy who grows too fond of fading racehorse Lean-On-Pete, doomed to be cut from a small stable of thoroughbreds owned by gruff trainer Steve Buscemi who hired the kid on a whim.  (Buscemi sticks out in a bad way from the rest of the cast, unable to adjust his focus down to the required unaffected naturalism.)  But what starts as a sweet summer job, with the added bonus of a work-related friendship with practical jockey Chloë Sevigny, turns progressively dark with loss.  Plummer ends up taking off without a plan from the NorthWest on an epic solo journey to save Lean On Pete and find an Aunt, his only living relative, living somewhere in Wisconsin.  Haigh withholds info whenever possible, probably because it’s the only way to keep this near Homeric tale from collapsing in the face of logistics & reality.*  And it largely comes off, making something intensely moving and near mythical in a second half that feels free from story beats, yet is anything but, loaded with its own mysteries, surprises and betrayals.  Pretty rough stuff along the way (in spite of our Family Friendly Label, you are forewarned), before pulling out a tentatively hopeful ending that doesn’t feel like a cheat.

DOUBLE-BILL: This one flew under the radar in the face of another fine boy-and-his-horse film out at the same time, Chloé Zhao’s THE RIDER/’17, her superior predecessor to NOMADLAND/’20.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-rider-2017.html

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *But exactly what period is it?  In keeping with the film’s general attitude toward specifics, hard to pin it down.  Best guess, late ‘80s/early ‘90s?  Perhaps a song on the radio in this largely scoreless/musically diegetic film nails it down.