Lucky is not the sort of film that I would ever intentionally go out and watch but on this particular evening I switched on my bedroom TV with the true intent being that whatever it is that I watch be something that is going to make me tired enough to turn it off. It was rated over 7/10 on IMDB and that is normally my threshold when it comes to deciding to watch random movies I have never heard of.
I was kind of surprised how this movie was so engaging, even though it was quite evident pretty early on that not a great deal was going to be happening in it.
The main character is named "Lucky" and the actor that plays him is one of those people that everyone recognizes, but nobody can remember his name. Harry Dean Stanton is his name, as it turns out he has been in a ton of things you probably have seen such as Godfather part II, Christine, Pretty in Pink, The Green Mile, and even The Avengers
As far as I know this is the first movie that he has ever been the main character in though and I think because he wasn't famous enough, I was unaware of the fact that he died shortly after this film was released. I mean it was just a single day.
That might have been part of the reason why this film ended up getting traction but just not enough for me to have ever heard of it until recently.
Since Harry and the character that he plays are in their 90's, you shouldn't expect a great deal of action or even movement in this one and I think that is kind of the point. "Lucky" isn't really respected in the community that he lives in, but he is left to his own devices and everyone knows who he is but just doesn't know a great deal about him. After decades of doing the same things every day he is very set in his ways and doesn't like changes to happen to that routine.
He walks around town, talking to the same people, going to the same diner, and while there are people that he is friendly with, he doesn't really seem to truly like anyone. He isn't lonely, as he points out in the dialogue in the film when he says " there is a very big difference between being "alone" and being "lonely."
He is treated with respect that he often doesn't deserve because of his age and gets away with acting mean towards other people because of preferential treatment he receives by virtue of simply being older than everyone else.
He doesn't tolerate any sort of nonsense from anyone, but he also doesn't go out of his way to make problems for anyone else unless he is faced with things that he has a real problem with, such as when he encounters a lawyer at his bar and chews the guy out simply for his profession. Later on the lawyer sits with him at a diner and the two of them are able to find some sort of common ground and have a nice chat.
I think this is kind of an example of a lot of the petty "beefs" that many of us have with other people in our lives: There are some people that we decide before we even know them that we are not going to like them, but if forced to get to know them, often, we find that we have more in common with them than we think.
I believe that "Lucky" the character and the movie, are kind of an example of what we are going to start seeing a lot more of in the future as society, especially Western society, continues to turn their back on a traditional family and instead opts for solo-living. Lucky the character has never been married, and this is perfect for Harry Dean Stanton as the real-life person also was never married and didn't really have a lot of relationships in his life that anyone is aware of.
Because of this living alone aspect of life, a lot of people just get used to being alone and it doesn't really bother them. I think in the next 20 years or so we are going to see a lot of "Luckys" walking around but probably with a smartphone in their hands instead of a pack of cigarettes.
Another thing that got to me was that Lucky, the character, has some harrowing tales of things that have traumatized him and he thinks about all the time. One of them was from his time in World War 2 - which is certainly understandable, but others are from way back in his youth involving events that might have seemed trivial at the time, but have stuck with him for 80 years. While I can't know for sure, I think that this film was attempting to explain how tiny things in life can have profound consequences on our mentality later in life.
Should I watch it?
I'll admit that this film is not going to be for everyone as it does move quite slowly and is very dialogue-driven. There is zero action in it but all of the words spoken are useful and there is no "filler" at all, every scene is important and relevant to the overall plot. This pleases me because I get annoyed at useless dialogue and I think that in many ways Lucky- the character - is also annoyed by this. Maybe I see a little bit of myself in Lucky.
You need to be prepared for this one and be patient because it does move rather slowly but especially if you are older, this film displays a lot of what likely happens to many people as they get older and that is both tragic and wonderful at the same time.
this film can be legally streamed on Kanopy and Hoopla and is available for purchase and rental for a few dollars on all the major streaming services. It is not available on Netflix
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