Official selection
SXSW Film Festival 2020, Etheria Film Festival 2020
Director
Natasha Kermani
Writer
Brea Grant
Cast
Yasmine Al-Bustami, Brea Grant, Kristina Klebe, Kausar Mohammed, Dhruv Uday Singh, Hunter C. Smith
Producer
Chelsea Davenport, Patrick Ewald p.g.a., Robert Galluzzo, Kimberly Hwang
Cinematographer
Julia Swain
Sound Designer
Roman Chimienti
Composer
Jeremy Zuckerman
Editor
Chris Willet
contact
Epic Pictures
After the August 23rd screening, join us at 11:15pm for a live Q&A with Director Natasha Kermani, Actor and Writer Brea Grant and Cinematographer Julia Swain
Luck doesn’t seem to be with self-help author May Ryer (Brea Grant) lately. Her books aren’t selling like they used to, and one night, a masked intruder breaks into the house she shares with her husband Ted (Dhruv Uday Singh). To make matters worse, Ted seems strangely unconcerned about the incident, talking about it in matter-of-fact terms as if it’s just something to be accepted, and an investigating cop actually says they’re lucky things didn’t go worse. Then things do become worse as the attacker appears again… and again… and again, continuing to terrorize May no matter how valiantly she fights back. He seems to have supernatural properties, and when May seeks help, she’s met with indifference and condescension. One of her books is called Problem Solving for Staying Alive, and now she’s faced with a dilemma that seems to have no solution, and that may indeed claim her life.
Last year, Brea Grant topped a string of genre performances with a marvelous turn in Jeremy Gardner’s AFTER MIDNIGHT. Now, as both screenwriter and lead actress, Grant (who also wrote and directed Fantasia 2020’s 12 HOUR SHIFT) delivers a movie that similarly uses a genre trope as the potent central metaphor within a deeply personal dramatic scenario. As May is repeatedly assailed by her anonymous stalker and is unable to engage any meaningful support from others, her experiences stand in for countless women who have found themselves the targets of male abuse and aggression, with nowhere helpful to turn. Far from a tract, however, LUCKY is first and foremost a gripping study of one woman navigating an extremely treacherous situation, and director Natasha Kermani (IMITATION GIRL) guides Grant’s scenario with a sure hand as it gradually veers in otherworldly directions. Yet even as these elements become more pronounced, LUCKY remains firmly rooted in current, identifiable, and distressing concerns, to the point where Ted’s statement, “This is just how things are,” may be the most unnerving part of all. – Michael Gingold
Showings
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