Harry Dean Stanton was a veteran character actor, one of the best, appearing in films as diverse as Cool Hand Luke (1967), Alien (1979) and Repo Man (1984). It was probably that latter film, and Stanton's work in Paris, Texas (1984), which transformed him into a cult figure. Lucky (2017) proved to be Stanton's final film, and it serves as a loving tribute to him, a fitting capstone to a long career.

Stanton was 90 during the filming of Lucky, and there are moments during certain long shots, where his character enters at frame left, and walks along the empty sidewalk of the dusty American south small-town he lives in, heading towards frame right, when you wonder whether he will make it all the way across the screen. And there are other moments, where Stanton's ravaged face fills the screen in closeup, when you almost cringe—and then decide to marvel instead, at what might be called courage: to allow himself to be shown thus in all his glorious decrepitude. But then: he's done it all, the final credits are in sight: what's he got to lose?

It is perfect casting. Stanton's character, Lucky, is a solitary man, living alone but (he claims) not lonely, frail of body and yet stubbornly independent: cantankerous. Lucky has his routines: a series of yoga exercises (21 repetitions of each) that he performs in his underwear each morning; breakfasting on a single glass of ice cold milk; working on the crossword puzzle each morning over a cup of coffee (lots of milk and sugar) at the local diner; home to watch his game shows on TV; a pack of smokes; and a drink in the local bar each evening with his cronies (David Lynch, as Lucky's friend Howard, comes close to stealing the film in certain of these scenes).

Lucky could had been just another quirky and mildly amusing film about aging; there are plenty of them already, enough to call it a minor genre: Grumpy Old Men and its sequel come to mind; and The Bucket List. But Lucky is more than that. It is a small film with a large heart; it is a film in which existential questions are raised (and answered) over drinks at the local bar (the best place to contemplate such questions). A film in which a pet tortoise, taking advantage of an open gate, decides to go walkabout in the desert.

Tortoises, we've learned, can live up to 200 years, as can certain varieties of cactus. There a wonderful scene near the end of the film, where Lucky has walked a short way into the desert. He looks up at an ancient saguaro cactus, scarred and battered, silhouetted against the clear blue sky. There is new growth at the top. Lucky contemplates this in silence; he turns away, and then looks directly into the camera: at us. He smiles. He turns, and walks away, onto the dirt road back into town, walking towards the edge of frame.

Credits role; fade to black; The End. Harry Dean Stanton (July 14, 1926 – September 15, 2017); RIP.

There are two more screenings of Lucky during VIFF 2017:

More information here.