On September 15th,
2017, the film world lost an American living legend with the passing of the
great actor Harry Dean Stanton at the ripe old age of 91. Despite aging well beyond what many expected,
the man continued acting steadily until his final years. Having recently made his grand appearance in
American surrealist and longtime friend David Lynch’s celebrated Twin Peaks: The Return as the beloved
Carl Rodd, Harry Dean Stanton in the same breath collaborated with actor turned
filmmaker John Carroll Lynch in his debut behind the camera with Lucky shortly before his unexpected
passing.
Co-starring David Lynch, Tom
Skerritt, Ed Begley Jr., Ron Livingston and Beth Grant, Lucky is a quiet, charming and modestly sized often heartfelt small
town American drama concerning a 90 year old atheist struggling with aging and
spiritual fulfillment. As such, it’s
largely an arena for Harry Dean Stanton to be himself in one of his final film
roles and channel emotional weathers not seen from the actor in quite some
time. Mostly a dialogue driven picture of
small talk rife with Stanton wisdom and heart, the film joins David Lynch’s The Straight Story (also featuring
Stanton) though with less forward momentum and episodic nature as a compassionate
drama about the fears of dying and trying to find meaning in a life slowly
coming to an end.
John Carroll Lynch displays
solid direction and command of the visual medium with many widescreen vistas of
Stanton traversing the small town of West Irvine, Kentucky, but for the most
part the director moves out of the way for Stanton to unfurl and offer up what
is already being called the performance of a lifetime. Partially an autobiographical confessional
and mostly a nice time with the acting legend, Lucky is as much about Harry Dean Stanton as a person as it is
about his friends and loved ones’ connection to him. Equally surprising despite being in a small
part is David Lynch as an eccentric local who lost his pet tortoise with more
than a few heartfelt soliloquys up his sleeve.
Lynch, who is already one of the great comic actors on his revival Twin Peaks series, comes into his own in
Lucky despite only being onscreen for
a short time.
These were the kinds of
stories Harry Dean Stanton loved to tell with the very real homegrown setting a
perfect fit for him. While Lucky doesn’t quite approach the
brilliance and compassion of The Straight
Story and isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, to be able to spend two hours
with Stanton one last time in a piece that felt more like a parting
confessional was a wonderful pleasure this longtime fan of his couldn’t
resist. One of the year’s most charming
and thoroughly enjoyable independent film productions and a lovingly made
farewell to the great actor, Lucky
was for my money a splendid time at the movies.
More than ever it conveyed what it was like to see the world through
Stanton’s eyes and how after a long life and career the man would find peace
and contentment in the end.
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki