Lucky (2017 American film)

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Lucky
Lucky (2017 film).png
Theatrical release poster
Directed by John Carroll Lynch
Written by
  • Logan Sparks
  • Drago Sumonja
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Tim Suhrstedt
Music byElvis Kuehn
Production
companies
Distributed by Magnolia Pictures
Release date
  • March 11, 2017 (2017-03-11)(SXSW) [1]
Running time
88 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office$955,925 [2]

Lucky is a 2017 American drama film directed by John Carroll Lynch, written by Logan Sparks and Drago Sumonja, and starring Harry Dean Stanton. It was one of Stanton's final onscreen roles before his death. The film tells the story of 90-year-old Lucky as he comes to terms with his own mortality and searches for enlightenment. It received positive reviews from critics.

Contents

Plot

As the film begins, a tortoise trudges into view in the desert. We meet Lucky, who lives alone in an isolated house in the small desert town of Piru, California. He drinks a glass of cold milk after his morning yoga and cigarette before getting dressed and heading out on his daily routine.

He gets coffee at a diner where he is on friendly terms with the owner, Joe. He works on a crossword puzzle from his daily newspaper. Lucky then walks to a convenience store where he buys another pack of cigarettes and a carton of milk. The owner, Bibi, tells Lucky that her son Juan is having his tenth birthday in a week. That evening, Lucky stops at a bar called Elaine's and has a few Bloody Marias with the locals. One of the regulars, Howard, is depressed that his pet tortoise, named President Roosevelt, has escaped.

The next morning, Lucky becomes entranced by the blinking numbers on his coffeepot. He gets light-headed and falls over, smashing his ceramic mug. At a clinic, Dr. Christian Kneedler gives Lucky a clean bill of health and tells him that Lucky has out-smoked and outlived the majority of people his age. At the diner, Lucky mentions how he fell and everyone becomes concerned for his safety. That night, Lucky calls a friend while he watches TV. He tells his friend that when he was a boy in Kentucky, he shot a mockingbird with his BB gun. He describes how devastating the silence was, and that it was the saddest thing he had ever experienced. Lucky thanks his friend for listening and hangs up.

Back at the bar, Lucky listens to a story from one of the regulars, Paulie, about how he met and married his wife. Lucky reflects on how he never married or had any lasting relationships. Lucky sees Howard talking with a lawyer named Bobby Lawrence about making a will for himself and wanting to leave all of his possessions to his pet tortoise. Lucky is hostile to Bobby and challenges him to a fight outside, but Paulie tells him that Bobby won't fight him and that he should go home. A day or two later, Joe's employee Loretta visits Lucky to check on him. While smoking marijuana, Lucky shows Loretta old photos of his time in the US Navy and they watch old VHS tapes of Liberace in concert. While having coffee at the diner, Lucky runs into Bobby Lawrence and tells him about his accident. Bobby tells Lucky about a time when he nearly got hit by a garbage truck and tells Lucky to always be prepared for the unexpected. Lucky visits a pet store and buys a box of live crickets.

Lucky meets a World War II Marine veteran named Fred and tells him about his time in the US Navy during the war in the Pacific. Lucky explains that he got his nickname from having the relatively safe job of cook on an LST. Fred tells Lucky a story about how after the Marines secured a beach, the locals began to commit suicide by jumping off cliffs. After a battle, he encountered a child, smiling amidst the carnage. Fred remarked to his fellow Marine that at least someone was glad to see them, only to be told that the girl was a Buddhist and was smiling at the prospect of dying. The story leaves Lucky speechless. Upon returning home, he sets the clock on his coffee machine to the correct time, stopping it from blinking. He attends Bibi's son Juan's birthday party and enjoys himself. He spontaneously sings "Volver Volver" in Spanish for the party goers.

That evening, Lucky goes back to the bar for more Bloody Marias. Howard has not found his tortoise and has concluded that all things must eventually come to an end. Lucky then attempts to light a cigarette at the bar despite being ordered not to do so by the owner, Elaine. He delivers a speech to the bar patrons that everything goes away eventually and that we are left with nothing. Elaine asks what is one supposed to do with nothing. Lucky simply replies "you smile". The remark transforms the mood of the bar; Lucky lights up his cigarette and steps outside.

The next morning, Lucky goes for a walk through town, as he always does, and passes by the outdoor botanic garden and the bar where he was previously banned for smoking. In the desert, Lucky looks up at a tall saguaro cactus and lights a cigarette. He breaks the fourth wall and smiles at the camera before heading back into town. As Lucky walks down the road alone, a tortoise again trudges into view.

Cast

Production

On July 7, 2016, it was revealed that Lucky had begun filming in Los Angeles. [3]

On April 7, 2017, it was announced that Magnolia Pictures acquired U.S. and international rights to distribute the film. [4]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, Lucky has a rating of 97%, based on 139 reviews, with an average score of 7.82/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Lucky is a bittersweet meditation on mortality, punctuating the career of beloved character actor Harry Dean Stanton." [5] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 80 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [6]

Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film four out of four stars, writing that the film is: "The humblest deep movie of recent years, a work in the same vein as American marginalia like ' Stranger Than Paradise ' and ' Trees Lounge ,' but with its own rhythm and color, its own emotional temperature, its own reasons for revealing and concealing things." [7] Seitz later named Lucky as the best film of 2017, stating that "I didn't expect much more than indie-film quirk when I read the description of this film, but emotionally it destroyed me." [8]

Accolades

AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipient(s)ResultRef.
Camerimage International Film Festival November 18, 2017Directors' Debuts Competition John Carroll Lynch Nominated [9]
Chicago Film Critics Association December 12, 2017 Best Actor Harry Dean Stanton Nominated [10]
Most Promising FilmmakerJohn Carroll LynchNominated
Gijón International Film Festival November 25, 2017AISGE Award for Best ActorHarry Dean StantonWon [11]
Best Original ScoreElvis KuehnWon
Gotham Independent Film Awards November 27, 2017 Best ActorHarry Dean StantonNominated [12]
Haifa International Film Festival October 14, 2017Carmel Award for Best FilmLuckyNominated [13]
Fedeora Award - Directors of TomorrowJohn Carroll LynchWon [14]
Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival November 26, 2017Jaeger - LeCoultre Best Film AwardLuckyNominated [15]
Locarno Film Festival August 12, 2017 Golden Leopard LuckyNominated [16]
Prize of the Ecumenical JuryWon
Satellite Awards February 11, 2018 Best Actor – Motion Picture Harry Dean StantonWon [lower-alpha 1] [17]
Special Achievement Award for Best First FeatureJohn Carroll LynchWon
Saturn Awards June 27, 2018 Best Independent Film LuckyNominated [18]
Tallgrass Film Festival October 22, 2017Outstanding ScreenplayLogan Sparks and Drago SumonjaWon [19]

Notes

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References

  1. ↑ Leydon, Joe (March 14, 2017). "SXSW Film Review: 'Lucky'". Variety . Penske Business Media . Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Lucky (2017)". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  3. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (July 7, 2016). "Harry Dean Stanton To Topline John Carroll Lynch's Indie 'Lucky'". Deadline Hollywood . Penske Business Media . Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  4. ↑ Lang, Brett (April 7, 2017). "Magnolia Nabs 'Lucky' Starring Harry Dean Stanton". Variety . Penske Business Media . Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Lucky (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Lucky (2017) Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  7. ↑ Seitz, Matt Zoller (September 29, 2017). "Lucky Movie Review & Film Summary (2017)". RogerEbert.com . Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  8. ↑ The Editors (December 14, 2017). "The Individual Top Tens of 2017". RogerEbert.com . Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Directors' Debuts Competition". Camerimage International Film Festival . Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  10. ↑ Childress, Erik (December 12, 2017). ""Lady Bird," "Call Me By Your Name" win big for Chicago film critics". Chicago Film Critics Association. Archived from the original on December 13, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Gijón/Xixón International Film Festival 55th Edition Winners". Gijon.es. City Council of Gijón. November 25, 2017. Archived from the original on June 21, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  12. ↑ Erbland, Kate (October 19, 2017). "'Get Out' Leads 2017 Gotham Awards Nominations". IndieWire . Penske Business Media . Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Carmel Competition - International Film Competition 2017". Haifa International Film Festival . Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  14. ↑ "Best Israeli Feature Film Award – "The Testament"". Haifa International Film Festival . Retrieved June 21, 2018.[ permanent dead link ]
  15. ↑ "Filmes em COMPETIÇÃO no LEFFEST'17". Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival . Leopardo Filmes. October 30, 2017. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  16. ↑ Locarno Festival [@FilmFestLocarno] (August 12, 2017). "Ecumenical Prize: LUCKY di John Carroll Lynch #Locarno70 @LuckyFilm2017 @MrJCLynch" (Tweet). Retrieved June 21, 2018– via Twitter.
  17. ↑ Pond, Steve (November 28, 2017). "'Dunkirk,' 'The Shape of Water' Lead Satellite Award Nominations". TheWrap . Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  18. ↑ McNary, Dave (March 15, 2018). "'Black Panther,' 'Walking Dead' Rule Saturn Awards Nominations". Variety . Penske Business Media. Archived from the original on March 16, 2018. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  19. ↑ "2017 Festival Award Winners". Tallgrass Film Festival . Tallgrass Film Association. Archived from the original on June 21, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
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