Lean on Pete

Lean on Pete is a 2017 British coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Andrew Haigh, based on the novel of the same name by Willy Vlautin. It stars Charlie Plummer, Chloë Sevigny, Travis Fimmel and Steve Buscemi, and follows a 15-year-old boy who begins to work at a stable and befriends an ailing racehorse. It was screened in the main competition section of the 74th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress for Plummer. It was released in the United States on 6 April 2018, by A24, before opening in the United Kingdom on 4 May 2018, by Curzon Artificial Eye. It received highly positive critical reviews, with praise going towards its direction, screenplay, cinematography, and Plummer's performance. The National Board of Review named it one of the ten best independent films of 2018. Plot While out on a morning run to a race track, Charley Thompson, a 15-year-old living with his single father Ray in Portland, Oregon, finds casual work caring for an aging racehorse named Lean On Pete. Pete's owner, Del, is an ornery man who assigns all the grunt work of caring for horses to Charley but attempts to bond by gifting Charley a pair of boots and teaching him table manners. Charley opens up about not knowing his birth mother, and how his father does not let him see Aunt Margy, Charley's only maternal figure. One night, a Samoan man breaks into Charley's home and attacks Ray for sleeping with his wife. Ray is pushed through a glass door and the shards embed themselves in his stomach. He is taken to the hospital where a nurse informs Charley that Ray is suffering from a serious infection caused by his wounds. Despite Charley's insistence at staying by his side, Ray encourages Charley to continue his job with Del.