Lucky (2017)

February 5, 2018 8:10 AM

Lucky tells the spiritual journey of a 90-year-old atheist and his struggle against encroaching old age.

This 2017 American drama film directed by John Carroll Lynch from a screenplay by Logan Sparks and Drago Sumonja. It stars Harry Dean Stanton in one of his final on-screen roles before his death on September 15, 2017.

posted by elsietheeel (6 comments total)

Lucky is now available to stream on Hulu, by the way.


A week after I acquired it by other means...and I still haven't watched it. Tonight!
posted by elsietheeel at 8:11 AM on February 5, 2018

I found this movie heartbreaking because Harry Dean Stanton meant a lot to me and I'm still sad he's gone. I'm glad he went out on a high, though.

Also, without spoiling anything, he was surprisingly limber for a nonagenarian. Those headstands!
posted by pxe2000 at 8:57 AM on February 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Loved this movie. It was touching but not sentimental if that makes any sense. HDS was terrific, as was David Lynch. And I loved Ed Begley Jr's performance as the doctor!

And yes, remarkably spry HDS...
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:40 AM on February 6, 2018

I loved this movie so much. I watched it when I had The Awful Lingering Flu earlier this year, and just wanted to watch a nice, peaceful, beautiful, slice of live movie. I didn't know anything about it, other than the trailer, and while I vaguely knew who Harry Dean Stanton was and that he had recently died, I didn't make the connection that this was his last movie. And goodness, what a movie. I think about it all the time--it managed to be hopeful and poignant yet not sentimental, as hurdy gurdy girl notes, was beautifully shot and paced, and had such moments of good humor and humanity. What a gem.
posted by stellaluna at 4:54 PM on February 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Stanton grew up in Kentucky, served as a cook in the U.S. Navy during World War II, was on board an LST, and seems never to have married nor had children, just like his character Lucky.
posted by orange swan at 8:13 PM on September 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Late to the party on this one but this one hit me in all the feels. I was teary-eyed (and sometimes more) throughout at least the last half of it. Such a meditation on life and death from a grounded, non-sentimental, yet incredibly humane and poignant point of view. Almost like a documentary, with HDS pretty much playing himself, just with a fictional backstory. I'd put it up there with Johnny Cash's Hurt video in terms of self-aware, end-of-life swan songs that reach down incredibly deep and do so with an honesty that gets past your defenses. Really an extraordinary film and what a jaw-dropping, mesmerizing performance. His haunted stare and all the emotion it conveys under the surface will be on my mind for a long time.
posted by treepour at 7:17 PM on February 2, 2021