Lucky

Extremely deft rendering of current immigrant experience (South Asian) in the NYC underbelly recalling not only Scorsese but even Scott B and Beth B by a young filmmaker who will go far. Accolades from the LA Times are highly justified pointing to the multinational, multi-everything, cast who gel almost as an ensemble. The perspective of a NYC taxi driver working the night shift is iconic and the immigrant's outer-borough reality in high relief. The Manhattan sophisticates at Cinema Village East were floored when one beautiful shady character, brilliantly realized by Galla Borowski, burst into Russian in the cab. One sensed creator Bari Kang was playing himself though having turned his life around. Hard-hitting, violent, mournful and haunting. Representations of miserable struggles, drugs and desperation, hearkening to years when Gotham was totally out of control, a time forgotten by many comfortable New Yorkers.

I was fortunate enough to see Lucky when it premiered at the Urban World Film Festival and was blown away. It exceeded all of my expectations (which were high). The pacing of the film is consistently taut, it's well shot and well acted and I was glued to the screen for the entire ride. Excited for its upcoming release!

I've never written a review before, I only just rate any movies I see, but felt I should for this one so no one else gets fooled! So I've read all the reviews and as the only other 1/10 mentioned, all are fake except for the 4/10. It's funny how even after the 1/10 reviewer posted their honest review, more fake accounts were created to increase the overall score, again! So what the reviewer that also rated it 1/10 said, they took the words right out of my mouth... this film was total amateur hour and a waste of my time!

This movie is really slow. The acting is very bad and looks like the actors are struggling to say their lines, except for Fernando. He starts off OK, but then just gets too into his role and over does it. The worst actor here is Sunny. Where did they find this guy anyway? Again, way to over-reacting. The background music is very dark, again, too much for a drama. I really couldn't finish this movie, it was that slow and boring.

It's sad to see such fake reviews. Don't waste your time, even if you see it for free like I did, my time is more valuable!

I saw LUCKY a couple days ago and it sticks with me. It is a fun ride through the under belly of New York City. The film does a great job of capturing an immigrant's struggle for the American dream without falling into the trap of boring the audience with a political lecture about immigration and race. Set in the gritty streets of the not yet gentrified outer reaches of New York City. It has a throw back quality to the gritty crime films of the 70s and 80s, with modern day pimps and prostitutes hustling the streets. The plot unwinds in a logical and honest way that leads the audience to identify with an otherwise moral man who is left with no other choice but to descend into a life of crime. The film is blessed with a great cast, great score and a very well written script. I look forward to more from this director.

So I had no plans of seeing this movie except that I happened to be attending a festival at Village East Cinemas and saw that "lucky" was playing with a Q/A and my boyfriend wanted to watch it. The movie is Good. Not Great but solid. The actors did a good job and the story, although familiar, (I'm an immigrant) had an interesting spin on it. It was unapologetic and I appreciated that. This is a real independent film and you can tell the budget must have been tight, which was acknowledged in the Q/A so that much more respect to the filmmakers for pulling it off. After hearing everything they had to do to get this made, you appreciate it that much more. Kudos to the team. The music was great too.