"Lucky" Review: A Woman's Struggle
- Vega
- May 1, 2021
- 4 min read
Platform: Shudder
Release Date: March 4, 2021
Before even introducing this film, I think it is important to watch the trailer and understand the type of expectations this film sets up.
Now we can proceed into introducing this thriller from the mind of the lead actress, Brea Grant, who wrote the screenplay, and director Casey Leonard. The movie has a really interesting set-up: a wife and husband are attacked in their home by a masked man. When May (Grant) announces the man's presence to her husband Ted (Dhruv Singh), he replies nonchalantly that this man tries to kill them every night. What ensues is a sequence of confusing and near abstract interactions with others around her: her husband, her sister-in-law, the police, and even the killer. As she begins finding ways to defend herself from this masked assailant, her interactions with others are so ridiculous, that they border on the line of parodies. No matter what she does, even as far as killing him, May can't stop the killer for reappearing every day.
Outside of May, no one acts as though anything is really wrong, which makes you question the reality being presented to us. The husband becomes less focused on his wife's attacker and more focused on an argument they have, prompting him to leave her home alone for the majority of the film. Her sister-in-law, who at one point appears to have gone through something similar during the story, is more concerned about May's marriage and how May's past transgressions may be impacting her husband's reaction to the situation. The police and primary detective on the case are probably the biggest tells in regards to where the story is progressing. In all of their dialogue, they find some way to engage in victim blaming, focusing on ways May could better defend herself and chasing a lead (that the killer is her husband) that could easily be ruled out by the viewer. Again, all of these supporting characters act almost as parodies of the worst versions of themselves in this type of situation.
Her interactions with the killer are also strange, most notably as she begins to defend herself. Attention was not brought to it, but as she started preparing each night with a weapon, the killer would have the same type of weapon with which to attack her. Of all of the theories I had running through my head when trying to figure this movie out (e.g., alternate reality, dream, simulation), I settled on these events being a representation of a mental difficulty that May was experiencing. Of course, that is not the case and it took me longer than it normally would for me to figure out what the deal. The unfortunate part of the discovery, which occurs in an overly revealing parking garage speech, is that it ruins the experience as a movie, turning it into a Ted Talk instead.
I am going to do something a bit different for this review and give you a chance to watch the movie before analyzing the film any deeper, as giving away the theme will ruins the experience of the mystery.
Lucky is the violence against women-version of Jordan Peele's 2017 social thriller Get Out. This movie is a representation of the ongoing societal apathy towards the harassment and violence that women experience. This is best represented in May's interactions with law enforcement and the casual responses and tips to help May defend against the attacker, rather than attempting to apprehend the attacker themselves. May goes through this struggle alone, outside of her sister-in-law somewhat support, which is another societal allegory of the women's fight and “Me Too” movement. As is stated in the movie, this is the “way things are,” and May refuses to accept it. The daily struggle is represented through the day to day dealings with the killer and even when May thinks she has a strategy or a new weapon, the killer changes the game or matches her. While the killer can easily be meant to represent exactly what it is, a man, it seems better fit to represent the patriarchy and a overarching system that promotes female suppression.
On a personal level, I can stand behind the message of the movie and I can see how, for some, the speech that May gives in the parking garage invokes anger and a slew of other emotions. However, as a film, this broke the facade of the art for me. May did not have to go on about how “we are being attacked in our home and in our friend's homes...and there is no saving us, so just get used to it,” as the movie was already telling that story. Knowing that I am in the minority of those who did not think “Get Out” was an act of pure genius, I respected that the message of the movie was conveyed through the story. The actors never had to exchange the type of fourth-wall breaking dialogue that May and her assistant do during the third act. Regardless, Lucky was a fun film to watch and has a clear and strong message, but more confidence in the film's ability to convey that message would have left this movie with more wow factor than frustration.
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