Lucky (2017)

While Frank and Ava, a fourth coming film about the tempestuous relationship between Frank Sinatra and the actress Ava Gardner will be Harry Dean Stanton's final film credit, his penultimate film Lucky is the perfect spiritual benediction to the long career of this great character actor, who passed away in September at age 91. A pleasant amble of a film, not much plot wise happens in Lucky, which simply depicts around five days in the life of its titular nonagenarian protagonist. Wearing a cowboy hat and a plaid shirt (he has a wardrobe containing a number of such identical garments) Lucky shuffles along the streets of the small Arizona desert town where he lives, and interacts with various locals.

Lucky seems to be a generally beloved resident of his little community, though we don't get much in the way of direct backstory, such as how he ended up in this town. Most of the biographical information we get about this character are things he shares with the actor portraying him, Lucky is a never married atheist originally from Kentucky who was a cook in the navy during World War II. While occasionally cranky there is something just very endearing and likable about him, and while he may seem to posses little in life we learn that his name is a perfect summation of what he feels himself to be.

From an original screenplay by Logan Sparks and Drago Sumonja, Lucky is capably helmed by the actor John Carroll Lynch in his directorial debut, his style is for the most part simple and straight forward, save for one late night bar sequence I have not been able to fully figure out. The film is packed with likable supporting roles and nicely cast, including Ed Begley Jr., Tom Skerritt, Beth Grant, James Darren in his first film appearance in 16 years, and Stanton's friend and semi-frequent director David Lynch as a widower in search of his lost tortoise. I found it all rather enjoyable, and very low key. ***1/2.