Sophia Michaels
Andrew Haigh is the uncommon filmmaker that is extra interested by presenting viewers with fully-realized characters—who really feel like they existed earlier than they got here into body and can proceed to do after they go away it—than any form of excessive idea or twisting plot. Most writers deal with their supporting characters particularly like plot gadgets, solely fleshing them out to the diploma they affect their protagonist. Not Haigh. In his masterful “Lean on Pete,” we meet a dozen or so individuals whom we don’t spend a lot time with, however who really feel actual. There’s Steve Buscemi’s irascible race horse proprietor, Chloe Sevigny’s horse rider, Amy Seimetz cooking breakfast, Steve Zahn’s homeless alcoholic, and a number of other others who cross paths with our hero, a boy named Charlie, performed with heartfelt, poignant perfection by Charlie Plummer. Again and once more, I marveled on the humanist depth of the world Haigh creates, one that may solely be rendered by a very nice author and director, working close to the highest of his recreation.
The man behind the Oscar-nominated “45 Years” shifts gears to the Pacific Northwest in “Lean on Pete,” the place we meet a comparatively common child named Charlie. He’s 15; he runs within the morning; he struggles close to poverty along with his single father. In the opening scenes, he mentions to his dad’s new love curiosity (Seimetz) that the explanation the cereal is within the fridge is as a result of roaches can get to it extra simply within the cupboard. It’s these refined little exchanges that Haigh so typically makes use of to flesh out his characters with out overemphasis. For essentially the most half, it looks as if Charlie is a pleasant, good teenager. His life adjustments when he’s operating by a horse observe someday and encounters the cantankerous Del (Buscemi), who wants assist with a flat tire. He provides Charlie $10 to assist him out. And then $25 a day to do different random jobs. And that’s when Charlie meets “Lean on Pete,” considered one of Del’s attractive horses. Del exists on the perimeter of horse racing, taking the animals to small, two-horse races, and sometimes promoting them after they succeed—or, in a dire little bit of foreshadowing, “sending them to Mexico” in the event that they don’t. Charlie shortly figures out what which means.
In methods I wouldn’t spoil, “Lean on Pete” turns into one thing of a highway film a couple of boy and the horse who provides the film its identify. As the movie builds momentum, Charlie’s scenario turns into more and more determined and transferring, however by no means in a manner that feels melodramatic. The major purpose for that’s the unbelievable belief that Haigh locations in Plummer, putting him within the heart of just about each scene within the movie and asking him to hold it. This is such a refined, stunning efficiency, one that actually anchors what might have so simply turn out to be manipulative rubbish—most coming-of-age tales that place youngsters in jeopardy are—however one shortly appears like they know Charlie. Without monologues or voiceover, we come to grasp why Charlie makes the choices he does. Just as Rampling’s efficiency in “45 Years” grew in energy as she turned much more internalized (take into consideration her last scene within the lavatory, the place she does extra simply by trying in a mirror than most actresses can with a monologue), Plummer has an analogous arc. He turns into so totally realized that he doesn’t have to clarify what he’s doing. We simply consider it.
Part of the explanation for that—and this may very well be partly as a consequence of the truth that I’ve three younger sons—one shortly involves look after Charlie. When this younger man sees a fantastic animal who could not have many races left in him, he responds emotionally. He’s not but grown too cynical from maturity to take action. We go along with the great thing about this story in the identical method that Charlie falls for that horse—it appears like we don’t have a selection.
Haigh’s present for character can generally overshadow his technical potential when individuals write about his work, however there’s a mesmerizing rhythm to “Lean on Pete” that drives the narrative. It’s tempting to name it lyrical, but it surely’s by no means fairly that underlined. It’s simply one thing within the cloth of his movies, the way in which he gently segues from one encounter on Charlie’s journey to the subsequent with out creating that herky-jerky, episodic rhythm that so typically defeats “road movies.” Charlie’s plight grows more and more unnerving, and but Haigh by no means goes for the contrived “child in jeopardy” construction or music cues. It’s actually the story of somebody falling right into a harmful scenario as a result of he acts along with his coronary heart—he doesn’t know methods to do the rest.
It sounds clichéd, however you actually don’t see numerous films like “Lean on Pete” in a calendar yr. Even movies ostensibly made for an grownup viewers typically come to them with the next idea than “a boy and horse.” And so I fear that it’s a troublesome promote for people who find themselves going to contemplate it both a film for younger audiences or a manipulative melodrama. And that’s one thing else that ought to additional our appreciation of Haigh. He follows up a film about an aged, married couple at a crossroads with that of a journey movie a couple of runaway teen and a horse. At first, it could appear that “45 Years” and “Lean on Pete” don’t have anything in widespread, but it surely’s Haigh’s energy with the way in which individuals work together—how they speak, what they reveal, what they select to cover—his outstanding belief in his actors and his personal storytelling skills that tie them collectively.
This overview was filed from the SXSW Film Festival.
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