Charley (Charlie Plummer) is a teenager who lives with his rubbish Dad (Travis Fimmel). Bored and needing to earn some money, Charley falls in with horse trainer Del (Steve Buscemi). You might think that a story about a boy and his horse would be a sweet, sentimental affair but this is far from that. Mostly uncompromising, this is a tough watch, that for its first hour is superb. The interaction between Charley and Del is great and with Chloe Sevigny’s jockey, Bonnie, joins them on the road, it gets even better.
Unfortunately, once Del and Bonnie leave the story it starts to flag. As good as Plummer is, he struggles to hold the plot together as it begins to drift and the final scene doesn’t ring true.
Almost great, certainly over praised by other critics but well worth seeing for the first half alone.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10