FOR THE LOVE OF PETE
Story of a boy and equine friend is endearing, without artifice
Some stories trot and others gallop, but the trick is always knowing the proper speed to tell your tale. Lean on Pete, based on the 2010 novel by Willy Vlautin, is content to move at a canter, which is just about perfect for what it wants to say.
Quite simply, it’s the story of a boy and his horse — well, not his horse exactly, but when two beings have this kind of friendship, they may as well belong to each other. The boy is Charley, played by Charlie Plummer, such an assured young actor it seems necessary to note he’s no relation to Christopher. The horse is played by a first-timer named Starsky.
Writer-director Andrew Haigh made the excellent 2016 drama 45 Years, which earned an Oscar nomination for Charlotte Rampling. Here he eases gently into Charley’s story as the 15-year-old (Plummer was 17 at the time) ambles around Portland, Ore., on his summer break, falling into work as a stable hand for a gruff racehorse owner named Del.
Del is played with a wondrous lack of affectation by Steve Buscemi. Honestly, the guy is so often cast as “quirky dude” that it’s a joy to see him just sit back and act. And when he gives Charley $50 for his help, the kid’s normally blank face blinks into a thousand-watt smile. It’s one of several moments where the artifice of acting seems to evaporate from the screen.
Charley’s tale is episodic, and the less you know about where the story goes the better. Suffice to say a tragedy of sorts brings the horse into Charley’s care for a time, and there are moments of perfect beauty and emotion when it’s just the two of them walking along, the shy lad conversing with the silent beast. Rangy and skittish, Charley is more than a little coltish himself.
There are other characters that come and go, including Chloë Sevigny as a jockey who warns Charley that racehorses are not pets, and Steve Zahn as a downon-his-luck type who nonetheless gives Charley a hand when the boy’s natural pride and shyness preclude him from asking. There’s much more going on in this fine film, which runs a solid two hours, but your best bet is to just saddle up and let it take you where it will.