Lean on Pete

Only in retrospect you realize how relevant to our current times and how anachronic in terms of our media culture is Lean on Pete, the story of a teenager (Charlie Plummer) who becomes an orphan and must face homelessness right away and without warning. He does not see it that way though, and as in real life stories, things happen to you while you are busy looking other way. In this case, the focus of that look is a race horse called Pete. The kid has developed a close attachment with the horse, an attachment that defies all of our cinematic clichés about a boy and a horse: there is not an exciting and triumphant riding lifting our spirits and no racing awards at the end of the road. There is only the distressing journey to the unknown, the hope of a better future and a feeling of precariousness in the middle of a happy ending that the young and courageous main character more than deserves. British director Andrew Haig has conjured a sort of discreet, reluctant masterpiece, the kind of film that, unfortunately, endears critics and goes unnoticed by the bulk of moviegoers. Beautiful and compassionate, this is one of the best movies I have seen this year so far.