Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Charley Thompson, a teenager living with his single father, gets a summer job working for horse trainer Del Montgomery. Bonding with an aging racehorse named Lean on Pete, Charley is horrified to learn he is bound for slaughter, and so he steals the horse, and the duo embark on an odyssey across the new American frontier.
Lean on Pete is a quietly devastating character study anchored by Charlie Plummer's raw, naturalistic performance — genuinely exceptional for his age and the emotional core of the film. The plot follows a familiar coming-of-age road movie template, though Andrew Haigh handles it with restraint and authenticity rather than sentimentality. Cinematography is competent and earthy, capturing the desolate American West without being especially stylized. The film's novelty lies in its unflinching, unsentimental tone — closer to British social realism than typical Hollywood drama — which gives it a distinctive voice, though the road movie structure itself is well-worn. The ending is bleak and honest, consistent with the film's outlook, but may feel abrupt or unresolved to some viewers, limiting its impact as a closing statement.