Lucky is the beauty of nothing

Lucky, for portraying the life of a World War II veteran, could have death as the main motive. However, what we see in the 88 minutes is life. It is the friends, landscapes, thoughts, and habits of this nagging old man who makes no effort to please or cared for himself.

A resident of a desert city in southern California, Lucky, in a memorable rendition of Harry Dean Stanton, leads a methodical and frugal life. He lives alone and wakes up early, although we do not know the time because he does not set his alarm clock. He does five yoga exercises and drinks a glass of cold milk, the only content of your refrigerator, and smoke all the time.

The routine, which includes a trip to the cafeteria for his coffee plenty with cream and sugar, and crossword puzzles, is broken the day Lucky faints. This fact, to which the local doctor does not give much importance, changes entirely the direction of the facts, from a mere chronicle of customs to a reflection on solitude and impermanence.

However, this is done lightly. Memorable scenes happen: concerned about the elderly, waitress Loretta goes to his home, where they end up smoking marijuana and watching a Liberace show on TV. In a conversation with another war veteran, played with extreme delicacy by Tom Skerritt, Lucky, who was a cook on an ammunition ship, hears, heartily, the story of a little Japanese girl and her way of facing death.

From that episode, Lucky decides to set his alarm clock. A song sung with mariachis at a children's party serves as a reminder that the protagonist did not marry or have children.

That night at the bar, after hearing for the umpteenth time his friend Howard's complaint about the escape of his tortoise President Roosevelt, Lucky challenges the owner Elaine, lighting a cigarette. Rather, he reflects on the truth of life, stating that everything and everyone, including cigarettes, will disappear into blackness and void.

In the final scene, Lucky smiles to his fate without noticing that the tortoise comes back sneaky home.

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