MEMBERSHIP is growing at Keighley Film Club as it continues its monthly screenings.

The general public can join these members on Sunday April 21 to witness a tale of rural life in America in the movie Lean On Pete.

Film Club spokesman Alan Watkinson said the audience would be offered the unique experience of viewing English director Andrew Haigh’s portrayal of American issues of poverty, rural life and a close human-animal relationship.

Alan said: “Lean on Pete has been reviewed to great critical acclaim. There is said to be a blend of social realism in it that has the film compared with Ken Loach’s Kes.”

Haigh, director of Weekend and 45 Years, has helmed a film based on a novel by Willy Vlautin and starring Travis Fimmel as Ray and Charlie Plummer as Charley.

Plummer makes his big-screen debut as 15-year-old Charley who has suffered unsettled childhood brought about by his itinerant single father Ray’s need for warehousing employment across the Pacific Northwest.

Other actors include Steve Buscemi as Del the horse trainer and Chloe Sevigny as Bonnie the jockey who help give Charley direction.

Alan said: “The lack of a stable home, income and high this school help explain Charley’s transience and a growing attachment to an ageing racehorse Lean on Pete.

“The horse is also injured, is well past its prime and is not likely to have much of a future. Charley can easily identify the parallels with his own life and sets out with the horse to find a safe future for them both.”

The Rotten Tomatoes film review site gave Lean On Pete a 91% rating, stating that “The cast has been directed to create an authentic sense of realism and a thoughtful compassionate social commentary of the depiction of a poor, rural Westcoast American lifestyle but not in a trivialised manner.”

The Film Club will screen the movie on April 21 at 6pm. Doors open at 5.35pm.