There is a certain irony to the timing of the movie Lucky starring Harry Dean Stanton. The film was one of Stanton's last in a storied career that dates back to before I was born (1954). The film, which deals with the inevitability of death, premiered two weeks after the actor passed away at the age of 91. The timing is poignant, as is some of the dialogue in the film. There is also irony in a story line regarding a missing tortoise, as the pacing seemed tied to that concept at times.
Lucky (Stanton) is a veteran of World War II. He served in the Navy in the Pacific during the war. He doesn't have a family, building his daily routine around exercise, visits to a local diner and convenience store, crossword puzzles and game shows. He is a creature of habit. He is also an atheist. Being an atheist creates challenges for him as he suffers an unexplained fall while fixing his morning coffee. His doctor explains it as just being old. Deep down, Lucky is scared. As he tries to reconcile his mortality, he pieces together a sense of peace through conversations he has with his friends and a random Marine Corps veteran he meets at the diner. In the process, we learn a lot about Lucky. It's as if he is opening up to the audience even as he is opening up to the people he sees everyday that barely know him. In the end, in the face of death, all you can really do is smile.
Stanton was excellent as Lucky. He brought an evenness to his character that made him likeable yet comfortably distant. As we learn more about him, that distance thaws a bit. He played it well. I also enjoyed David Lynch as Lucky's friend, Howard. Howard had the best dialogue in this film by far. He delivered it in a narrative fashion that was delightfully quirky. His character overthinks simple concepts, but his conclusions are brilliant, nonetheless. This film is a character study, and it delivers a central character that has good depth. The other characters are peripheral and tend to be deeper the closer they are to Lucky. Or the more interaction we see, at least. As a character study, this film succeeds. I was engaged with Lucky and interested to see how things evolved.
My biggest complaint was the narrative arc, which sort of meandered around. The film felt like the character, which was not necessarily a good thing. The pacing felt like I was the one who was 91 years old. And I needed a nap. And I almost did. The film is the right kind of quirky, with dialogue sharp enough to support a slow paced film. But it was tedious at times. Yet, just when I was getting edgy, the film would deliver some nugget of value that redeemed it. So I can't hate this film no matter how hard I try. I just like it. But it is slow and boring at times. That's just the way it is.
Lucky is an 88 minute film, which is a relatively short run time. Maybe it would have been better as a short? It's hard to say. It does feel like it was stretched out to hit that magic 88 minute number. I see that number a lot in films, although I think 80 is the real magic number. The film was shot in three weeks time, which seems pretty impressive. Although there are no exquisite sets to speak of. The film did not receive a rating from the MPAA. I would probably give this film a PG rating. I wouldn't restrict anyone based on content alone. The film is about death and dying, which are heavy topics. There is some strong language and drug use in the film, so the MPAA would probably be at PG-13. It was minor stuff. Kids will be bored to tears in this film, anyway.
This is a film that will wait for video. You aren't going to lose anything visually from the big screen. The film is a worthwhile rental when it does hit streaming. I was engaged with the character and interested to see how the pieces of his conversations fit together to form a worldview that helped him deal with his own mortality. This film was built for the critics. They love it. It has a 98 percent critic score on RT. That is simply ridiculous. This film is not two percent shy of perfection. It's just not. IMDb is not quite as high, but still up there at 7.7/10 currently. That seems a bit high to me as well. You have to simply love this type of movie to love it that much. I am going to grade it objectively, based on my own tastes. I will give it a recommendation on video at 7/10.
