Lucky (2017)
“Lucky” follows a daily life of an old gentleman who was once in the US Navy. He walks around town, goes to his favorite local coffee shop, and to his favorite bar where he drinks and talks to the people he knows. When Lucky collapses at home, he realizes that he is going to face an unavoidable weakening and an approach of death. He knows he has to accept it. He realizes he is afraid of dying, but he won’t admit it to himself or others, due to his argumentative personality trait. Lucky would much rather get into debates with people, than open up to them. Though, in the end he seemed accepting of his fate and fairly at peace with himself.
The opening scene shows Lucky at home, often in his underclothing, performing yoga exercises and smoking cigarettes. The camera captures his movements and it captures him close up. The light was an important element in this movie, as it showed Lucky’s sad face, emphasizing gloominess of the scene. When Lucky walks around town, the camera is slowly moving showing the viewers of the desert that surrounded him. The light revealed true colors of sand dunes. Several shots were taken from a distance, emphasizing the emptiness that surrounded him. Also, in that same scene, Lucky never announces where he is going. Viewers must understand his direction through his action. However, when he stops in the local coffee shop, the viewers see him talking to the owner and a waitress, named Loretta. They also see him go to his favorite bar, where he drinks and chats with owner Elaine and her husband Paulie. After seeing Lucky go to all these local places, and comfortably converse with owners and staff, one could assume that Lucky developed a close relationship with all these people. This set the tone for predictability of his future actions and applicable daily routine.
The scene where Lucky fell down looked genuine. One minute he stands tall and the next, he collapses on the floor. This came as no particular surprise to a viewer like me, as I noted his advanced age in several prior scenes. When he goes to see a doctor, he is given no reasons to worry, as no serious diagnoses were made. He appeared healthy, despite of smoking. He was simply losing strength because of his old age. Although it was a serious scene, Lucky displayed some humor. The choice of dialog for the hospital scene was very appropriately selected. I found it to be believable and lifelike. Lucky’s dialog was consistent with his facial expressions. He seemed calm at the doctor’s office, and then the viewers can easily recognize fear on his face. It was then when Lucky realizes some things will be beyond his control, as he is getting weaker. Later, he goes back home and continues with his daily routines. There was another scene of Lucky, where Loretta stopped by his home to see how he was doing. In that scene, the camera shows Lucky and Loretta from a distance, and the viewers get to see his rather small home. They then chat, and smoke plants together. Lucky opens up to Loretta by telling her about his health concerns and associated fears. The camera shows his face closely in that scene, exposing his feelings and emotions. No verbal expressions were necessary. His tone and facial expressions communicate to viewers the helplessness of the situation. We see tears in Lucky’s eyes.
My favorite scene of the movie was when Lucky went to a birthday party. In that scene, the camera was slowly moving and capturing everyone in that party. Lucky sang a song in Spanish. The scene was beautiful. People were looking at him and the camera’s main focus was Lucky’s face. His facial expressions and emotions conveyed depth of his feelings through camera work. According to WTF W/ Marc Maron, “Harry Dean Stanton”, “He is so expressive when he sings his songs, and to me that is so heartbreaking.”
There was a scene of Lucky at a bar chatting with his buddy Howard. Howard was upset about the disappearance of his tortoise. The way he spoke about it, and his facial expressions were consistent with his dialog. In that scene, Lucky and Howard acted comfortably around each other. Care and respect are present and clearly shown between the two of them through camera. Lucky then proceeds to argue with Elaine, her husband Paulie, the waiter and some other people about morality, religion, and even game shows. In that scene, it was apparent that everyone respected him, even if they did not agree with him. When Lucky meets the attorney, he truthfully expresses how he feels about him. At that point, they both meet at a coffee shop, converse, and befriend.
As a viewer, I feel Lucky did a great job at revealing his different personality traits based on the situations he was in. He was argumentative, yet appreciated a good conversation. He seemed like a bit of a loner, yet he made time to develop and maintain relationships with other people. He was serious and fearful for his health, yet he found humor and irony in several scenes proceeding his fall down. Lucky was a natural and he made every scene look genuine and lifelike. It seemed as if he did not care or completely forgot about the cameras being around him. According to Michael O'Sullivan,” A: Harry Dean had no interest in the camera at all, but he knew where it was, at all times. I think he had been doing it for so long that he just forgot about it.” His facial expressions are priceless, as they truly reflect how he feels. These real and genuine emotions make viewers believe his story, his concerns, and his sufferings. The music was an important element in” Lucky”, and it was consistent with Lucky’s scenes. An example of that would be a scene where Johnny Cash’s song “I see a Darkness” plays, and Lucky’s eyes are wide, and he is speaking towards that sound, looking afraid.
In the end, this movie is not only about Lucky being afraid of death, but it is also about what he was going through and how he overcame his fear. I think that this movie was not about a character named Lucky, but rather it was about Harry Dean Stanton’s story. He allowed himself to open up and be vulnerable. This in return allowed people to relate to him and see him for what he is, which is a human being.
References
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QewxbUOHmc
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/lucky-director-john-carroll-lynch-on-life-death--and-harry-dean-stanton/2017/10/05/5baae1f0-a90d-11e7-92d1-58c702d2d975_story.html
http://www.indiewire.com/2017/09/harry-dean-stanton-lucky-oscar-best-actor-1201880859/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QewxbUOHmc
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/lucky-director-john-carroll-lynch-on-life-death--and-harry-dean-stanton/2017/10/05/5baae1f0-a90d-11e7-92d1-58c702d2d975_story.html
http://www.indiewire.com/2017/09/harry-dean-stanton-lucky-oscar-best-actor-1201880859/