'Lean on Pete' review: A film of brutal beauty

Andrew Haigh’s “Lean on Pete” tells the story of a teenage boy determined to save a horse from certain slaughter. Make no mistake, though: This is not a children’s film. Based on a 2010 novel by the rock musician and writer Willy Vlautin, “Lean on Pete” is a film of brutal beauty that traverses the fringes and barrens of rural America. It can be a tough go at times, but Haigh’s sympathetic eye and a riveting turn from rising star Charlie Plummer make “Lean on Pete” worth the watch.

Plummer plays Charley, a woefully skinny kid living with his hard-drinking father (Travis Fimmel) in Portland, Oregon — and not the lattes-and-yoga neighborhood satirized in “Portlandia.” To feed himself, Charley begins working for a hard-luck horse trainer, Del Montgomery (a bitterly funny Steve Buscemi), and soon falls in love with Lean on Pete, another under-loved creature with visible ribs.

“Don’t get attached,” says Bonnie (Chloe Sevigny), a hardened jockey, but it’s too late. When Del resolves to sell the horse, a distraught Charley steals him and hits the road. His goal is to find an estranged aunt who treated him kindly many years ago. Perhaps she’ll do so again.

What follows is not “The Black Stallion” or “The Yearling” or any of the usual stories about a boy and his animal. “Lean on Pete” is about hunger, hard choices and the search for a better life. The longer Charley spends on the road, the more he must lie and steal. Although Pete seems to represent Charley’s better self, there is no magic moment between them. In fact, Charley never rides his horse. Whether he respects the animal or misunderstands it is hard to say.

Plummer, 18, who delivered a highly underrated performance as a kidnapping victim in last year’s “All the Money in the World,” carries this movie all but single-handedly. With barely any dialogue, Plummer manages to convey such complicated emotions as desperation, determination, shame and guilt. It helps that writer-director Haigh (the sublime “45 Years”) largely stays out of the way, capturing every scene like a detached but artful documentarian.

The film’s lack of plot, and its few moments of ugly violence, can make for a wrenching experience. At its best, though, “Lean on Pete” is the cinematic version of an American blues or folk tune, a chronicle of bad luck, hard times and the stubborn will to survive.