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Lucky

John Carroll Lynch  •   USA  • ​  2017
88 mins  •  HD  •   M Drug use & offensive language
​ ​In English

After an idiosyncratic career of iconic roles for everyone from Wim Wenders to David Lynch, the late Harry Dean Stanton hangs up his hat with this wryly funny, affecting character study.

"An unassumingly wonderful little film about nothing in particular and everything that’s important."
- Variety
With: Harry Dean Stanton (Lucky), Ron Livingston (Bobby Lawrence), Ed Begley Jr (Dr Christian Kneedler), Tom Skerritt (Fred), Barry Shabaka Henley (Joe), James Darren (Paulie), Beth Grant (Elaine), Yvonne Huff Lee (Loretta), Hugo Armstrong (Vincent), David Lynch (Howard)
Director: John Carroll Lynch
Producers: Danielle Renfrew Behrens, Ira Steven Behr, Richard Kahan, Greg Gilreath, Adam Hendricks, John Lang, Logan Sparks, Drago Sumonja
Screenplay: Logan Sparks, Drago Sumonja
Photography: Tim Suhrstedt
Editor: Slobodan Gajic
Production Designer: Almitra Corey
Costume Designer: Lisa Norcia

Music: Elvis Kuehn

REVIEWS
​

"Epitaphs rarely come more perfect than John Carroll Lynch’s Lucky, a stellar curtain call for renowned character actor Harry Dean Stanton, who left us in September last year.  From the nods to Stanton’s most iconic roles to the parallels with his personal life, Lucky feels like a handwritten love letter to the man from the opening frame.

Stanton is the titular Lucky, an eccentric veteran living a quiet life of routine in a small Arizona town. But when he suddenly collapses one morning, the shock sends him reeling into a philosophical self-excavation in which he must confront the inevitability of his own death. 

What’s remarkable is that, despite being a reflection on our impending demise, Lucky never feels suffocated by the weight of its themes. There’s a lovely, shambling rhythm at work, with first-timer Lynch consistently finding poetry and humour in the everyday. And then there’s Stanton, who offers up a deeply soulful turn brimming with the wily charisma and bruising melancholy for which he was known. For a career comprised of some of the screen’s most unforgettable drifters and oddballs, it’s one hell of a way to close the book. David Lynch, Ron Livingston and Beth Grant co-star."

— NZIFF 2018

“Even if it weren't arriving immediately after his death at the age of 91, this effortlessly moving portrait would be a milestone in Stanton's career, his most substantial role since 1984’s Paris, Texas and one of the most affecting performances he ever gave. The directing debut of John Carroll Lynch, it feels like a gift from one outstanding character actor to another.”

— John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter


FILM SOCIETY SCREENING

Hamilton (Opening Night)
Tuesday, 4 March, 8:00pm


Want to see this film?  Ask your local Film Society to add to their 2020 programme

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New Zealand Federation of Film Societies  |  PO Box 9544, Te Aro, Wellington, NZ  
Phone: +64 4 385 0162  |  Fax: +64 4 801 7304  |  Email: [email protected]
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • SOCIETIES
    • AUCKLAND
    • HAMILTON
    • TAURANGA
    • NEW PLYMOUTH
    • WHANGANUI
    • PALMERSTON NORTH
    • CARTERTON
    • WELLINGTON
    • NELSON
    • CANTERBURY
    • TIMARU
    • OAMARU
    • QUEENSTOWN
    • DUNEDIN
    • WESTPORT
  • 2025 SEASON
    • SWEDISH CINEMA
    • KUROSAWA
    • PECKINPAH'S WEST
    • COMEDY CORNER
    • GHOST STORIES
    • NZ FILM
    • RETRO CLASSICS
    • FRENCH CONNECTIONS
    • GERMAN CINEMA
    • WORLD CINEMA