Lucky
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: September 29, 2017
7.4
USER SCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 58 Ratings
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44
Mixed:
12
Negative:
2
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6
netflicOct 9, 2017
It is a philosophical film about a 90-year old man facing the end of his life.
He is quite healthy for his old age, lives alone, has never married,
Deeply inside, he is afraid of death but on the other hand he accepts reality and he seems toIt is a philosophical film about a 90-year old man facing the end of his life.
He is quite healthy for his old age, lives alone, has never married,
Deeply inside, he is afraid of death but on the other hand he accepts reality and he seems to be at peace with it. The movie is very warm and atmospheric. It is slow but it grows on you.

Harry Dean Stanton is starring in this film, this it his last movie, and one might consider this movie as the actor's good bye.

If you, like I do, enjoy watching arthouse movies, you should not miss this one.… Expand
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9
tonyGreenDec 8, 2018
Sweet and beautiful. The pace is leisurely and gives space to ruminations on mortality. To be sure, if we are lucky, we make it to old age, and then we die. But in our time we are witness to a beautiful world, and the American Southwest is asSweet and beautiful. The pace is leisurely and gives space to ruminations on mortality. To be sure, if we are lucky, we make it to old age, and then we die. But in our time we are witness to a beautiful world, and the American Southwest is as beautiful a part as any. Harry Dean Stanton ends a wonderful career with a wonderful film. Recomended.… Expand
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7
GreatMartinNov 10, 2017
Lucky is, as his doctor tells him, “You’re old and getting older”. At one of his many routine stops around town, at the diner where he has coffee with lots of sugar and milk and works the crossword puzzle he is told by the owner, aboutLucky is, as his doctor tells him, “You’re old and getting older”. At one of his many routine stops around town, at the diner where he has coffee with lots of sugar and milk and works the crossword puzzle he is told by the owner, about Lucky’s smoking, “Those things are going to kill you” to which he respond’s “If they could’ve they would’ve.”
Lucky is a 90 year old man who has never been married, hasn’t any children and lives in a small town that he walks around every day making the same stops. He starts his day off, every day, with a cigarette, abbreviated yoga exercises, putting on one of his 4 outfits, goes to the diner, stops at bar where he trades quips, insults, outlooks on life with the bartender, the owner and a few of the regular customers, stops at the store on his way home to get a fresh container of milk everyday and then goes home to watch the game shows on television. He was in the navy as a young man, plays the harmonica and one day at a birthday party for the son of the owner of the grocery store sings a ballad in Spanish. These people, including the waitress from the diner, are Lucky’s ‘family’.
One day, unexpectedly, he falls in his kitchen and when he recovers he goes to his doctor to get the ‘older’ diagnosis. All in all his vital figures, such as blood pressure, are fine and there is no reason for the fall except he is getting nearer to the ‘end’ which has him questioning what that is like and what happens. Most people will recognize the actor playing Lucky but usually will ask ‘What’s his name? You know he played in…” and in some cases may recognize the name but not seeing him in a picture wouldn’t recall what he looks like. Harry Dean Stanton plays Lucky and many things in the movie such as all the smoking, being in the navy and his picture as the young sailor, playing the harmonica, are taken from his real life. The director John Carroll Lynch and the screenwriters, Drago Sumonja and Logan Sparks all are friends of his and, probably, brought into the movie things they knew about Stanton but, this is not a biography of the actor.
“Lucky” is a movie that wouldn’t have been made if the genre of ‘small independent movies’ didn’t exist. Lasting 88 minutes there is no sense of being rushed and except for a few scenery shots neither are there shots just to expand the movie to a theatre running time. This is a film that would fit comfortably on a PBS station. Talking about scenery the director of photography Tim Suhrstedt has some beautiful shots from morning to evening of the Arizona desert town and the mountains that surround it.
Along with Stanton there are some familiar looking faces like Ed Begley Jr., as the doctor, Tom Skerritt as another veteran who stops by at the diner, David Lynch, who gave Stanton one of his reoccurring roles in “Twin Peaks” including the latest sequel, as one of the bar regulars plus James Darren as another customer, Beth Grant , the owner of the bar, Barry Shabaka Henley, the owner of the diner, Ron Livingston as an attorney along with Yvonne Huff, Bertila Damas and Ana Mercedes.
Sadly on September 15, 2017, a month before “Lucky” was released, Harry Dean Stanton died at the age of 91 and this movie is a fitting tribute to his talents as an actor. I wonder if he found what he thought his character Lucky would at death?… Expand
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8
Brent_MarchantOct 6, 2017
Though sometimes a little too cryptic for its own good, this otherwise-reflective meditation on life, existence, mortality and human relations provides viewers with much to ponder about the state of one's reality and how it's shaped. With anThough sometimes a little too cryptic for its own good, this otherwise-reflective meditation on life, existence, mortality and human relations provides viewers with much to ponder about the state of one's reality and how it's shaped. With an excellent, career-topping performance by the late Harry Dean Stanton, coupled with a strong supporting ensemble, this quiet, low-key debut feature from actor-director John Carroll Lynch explores the meaning of life and the secrets to help make it fulfilling, both while we're here and as we're about to make our ultimate transition. A promising first effort from a filmmaking newcomer and the crowning achievement of a veteran performer's repertoire.… Expand
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10
alejandro970Jun 30, 2018
Harry Dean Stanton in his zenith and final days of carrer in a endearing role: a rusty old cowboy in a introspective tour. Watching and listening him singing mariachi is a treat for spirit. A must to see.
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8
JLuis_001Jan 8, 2018
Obviously it will not sound very good but what a great movie Harry Dean Stanton had to close his career. It invites to appreciate and meditate on life and in such a pleasant and non pretentious way.
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8
ShelaghEOct 22, 2017
Evocative film about aging and the whittling of personality by time. No bogus back story—the film stands on its own merits. My only question— what was Eve’s? Eden?
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7
Bertaut1Sep 25, 2018
A meditation on mortality

Lucky is the directorial debut of prolific actor John Carroll Lynch, but more noteworthy is that it features the last performance from the legendary Harry Dean Stanton, who was 90 at the time of shooting, and whoA meditation on mortality

Lucky is the directorial debut of prolific actor John Carroll Lynch, but more noteworthy is that it features the last performance from the legendary Harry Dean Stanton, who was 90 at the time of shooting, and who died two weeks prior to the film's North American release. Written specifically for Stanton by Logan Sparks and Drago Sumonja, the film is a meditation on mortality, and is as much about Stanton himself as it is the eponymous character. Beginning like a quirky comedy populated by strange characters with gentle eccentricities, it later morphs into a more serious meditation on how a nonagenarian atheist with no family faces up to the fact that death is not that far away. Laid back and tender, moving entirely at its own measured pace, Lucky works primarily by way of presenting individual vignettes that add up to much more than the sum of their parts.

The film tells the story of Lucky (Stanton), a 90-year-old living in an unnamed backwater town on the edge of an Arizonan desert. An atheist who doesn't believe in an afterlife or the soul, never married, and with no children, his life is one of routine, spending his day interacting with the townsfolk; local diner owner Joe (Barry Shabaka Henley) and waitress Loretta (Yvonne Huff); shop-owner Bibi (Bertila Damas); bar-owner Elaine (Beth Grant), her husband Paulie (James Darren), and barman Vincent (Hugo Armstrong), along with Lucky's best friend, Howard (David Lynch). However, when he falls for no apparent reason one morning, the local doctor, Kneedler (Ed Begley Jr), tries to explain that at his age, the body simply starts to break down.

Lucky is a character-driven film, where the vagaries of a well-laid plot just don't factor into things. This is signalled in the slow and methodical opening sequence, which depicts Lucky ambling past boarded-up and dust covered shops, with the lethargic pace playing out on screen correlating with the lethargic pace of the editing (Lynch allows the characters plenty of room to breathe). This sequence also sets up the style and tone of the film; rather than a cause-and-effect narrative, Lucky is built upon a series of small idiosyncratic moments, often with only the barest amount of connective tissue between them. Neither does Lucky, nor any of the other characters, have a significant arc; he's essentially the same man when the film ends as he was when it began, which is, of course, the whole point.

One of the major themes is routine; Lucky's day is rigidly mapped out, to the point that if someone is sitting in his favourite diner seat, it puts him in a bad mood. In this sense, repetition is a major part of both his life and the film's structure. Another important theme is impermanence, which ties into Lucky's rejection of a never-ending life after death. Tied to this, the issue of mortality is brought up time and again, seen most clearly in Howard's dealings with life-insurance man Bobby (Ron Livingston), preparing for his own inevitable death. However, the five yoga exercises Lucky performs each morning are the Five Rites of Rejuvenation, so although he knows that life won't last forever, so too is he doing what he can to prolong it as much as possible. With this in mind, after he falls, the film shifts gears, changing from a pseudo-comic examination of a curmudgeonly old man into a subtle analysis of the inescapability of death and the transitory nature of existence.

Working together, the acting, the seemingly insignificant dialogue, the importance of routine, the crumbling town, the desert, all serve to create the whole, which conveys far more than any one aspect of the film could. This is not to say that individual scenes don't work, or are disposable, however. For example, several scenes contain achingly beautiful anecdotes; Lucky's story of accidentally killing a mockingbird as a child; Howard's narration of what he imagines President Roosevelt's birth must have been like; and, in a scene obviously paying homage to a very similar scene in The Straight Story (1999), Lucky and former marine Fred (Tom Skerritt) swapping heart-breaking stories of their time in the war (just like Lucky, Stanton was a cook on board the USS LST-970, which participated in the Battle of Okinawa).

If I was to find fault, although the film avoids sentimentality for the most part, it does become a little maudlin towards the end. Additionally, by its very nature, the narrative is very episodic, which creates a slight impression of disconnection. Also, the tone and design work to keep the audience at arm's length, preventing us from becoming too emotionally involved with Lucky himself, something which I'm not entirely sure served the film, or the character, very well.

However, these are relatively minor flaws in an otherwise excellent film, and in the end, this is a fitting swan song for an actor of Stanton's calibre. After all, how many people can say they've starred in their own filmic obituary?… Expand
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10
vgareSep 21, 2018
It's awesome, it's sad, it's joyous in its conclusion. He's a great character that lives his life like we all should. He's got principles, he's got friends, he's alone but not lonely. He's got heart, he's got mouth for everyone who deservesIt's awesome, it's sad, it's joyous in its conclusion. He's a great character that lives his life like we all should. He's got principles, he's got friends, he's alone but not lonely. He's got heart, he's got mouth for everyone who deserves it. A nice collection of philosophical, metaphysical and quantum theories are all put together in a grand unified theory of life.… Expand
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7
DawdlingPoetNov 24, 2021
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I liked the titular character, a somewhat curmudgeonly old man who isn't keen on other peoples attitudes and who is stubborn but yet is still, beneath it all, a decent guy, just trying to get by. Of course the fact that his name is Lucky is a bit ironic given not everything has gone his way. I suppose he's a bit of an underdog type character, which its often said Americans love. The film itself is quite understated but I very much enjoyed it regardless. There are some pieces of dialogue that I liked or could relate to, one such being 'There's only one thing worse than awkward silence - small talk.' (im not a fan of pointless miscellaneous small talk).

I liked how subtle this film is, as a character driven drama film (with perhaps less in the way of drama) its quite good. I like how cheeky Lucky is, challenging others around him to dis-prove how he sees things. Its a bit deep I suppose, he is a somewhat philosophical person, even though he's a blatant atheist. Its perhaps a little slow and boring for some but I enjoyed it. If your keen on the main actor, Harry Dean Stanton, who died shortly after this film was released, or if the films description intrigues you, then I'd recommend it, otherwise perhaps not so much.… Expand
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10
btweenthelinesAug 27, 2020
★ Reality... is a thing. Superbly casted with some of the greatest performances of character actors of the past decade. A huge congratulations to John Carrol Lynch for the film. Of course, Stanton carries the film in a way only he could.★ Reality... is a thing. Superbly casted with some of the greatest performances of character actors of the past decade. A huge congratulations to John Carrol Lynch for the film. Of course, Stanton carries the film in a way only he could. Bravo, Harry. We sure miss you.… Expand
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