Your Lucky Day

Went into it with low expectations but was pleasantly entertained!

They built up the characters quite well and although there were limited cast, they carried the film with their acting.

The desperation of the characters meant you could not really guess where the story would go and kept you wanting to find out what happens and even rooting for certain characters.

In some films, you can get frustrated at the common sense of the characters but they acted a lot out of instincts and survival so made you agree with their decisions (sometimes!)

Apart from some parts, makes you wonder what you would do in the situation.

These actors' performances stand out, making this indie film gem looking at class, race, etc. By Dan Brown stand tall. Jessica Garza as Ana Marlene did wonderful, and is the scene stealer! Angus Cloud begin the story as a small time drug dealer, Sterling who happens to be present when a lottery winner get a "golden" ticket, looking at a jackpot over 100 million.

All of the film takes place at a Los Angeles corner store, owed by Amir played by Mousa Hussein Kaiser. Sterling tries to get the ticket from a winner, Mr. Laird played by Spencer Garrett when tragedy strikes as a cop accidentally shoots the wrong person. The tension is raised with other captives in this store hold up.

This film as an action thiller, evokes the tension from even John Carpenter's Assault on 13 th Percint. There are plot twists, in the midst of the story. The question of the haves and have nots, making this film to take unexpected turns.

This film was dedicated to Angus Cloud, who died recently in 2023. Remember if indie films that critique issues of racism and classism, are not your choice, this film maybe not for you.

Drug dealer Sterling (Angus Cloud) gets rolled. He is one of the patrons in a convenience store when a customer discovers that he won the $156 million lottery jackpot. Sterling decides to steal the ticket and all heck brings loose.

I don't watch Euphoria, but I do remember Angus Cloud's death. There is a powerful unstable energy about him. He is very cinematic and magnetic. I completely buy his impulsiveness and recklessness. He also has an endearing quality and is able maintain the rooting interest. I like the first half. Sterling has no plan with the robbery and the story flows from that. I assume that the rest of the people are partly playing Sterling to stay alive. Whatever plans they come up with is to appease Sterling. That part works. The problem is that there is no perfect crime in this after the messy killing. That doesn't matter since Sterling is not the sharpest mind. The crooked cops are a big problem. They would never get away with it. Sterling can have no plan. If the cops have no good plan, then the movie suffers and it's bad writing. This is half-good. The second half loses me.

Short review: I've seen this before where if a film was able to clock out at around the 60-70 minute mark it would be perfect, but the expectation/demand to reach 90 minutes kills it. 'Your Lucky Day' is a fine enough film, but it doesn't quite have enough in the chamber to stretch the concept out to 90 minutes.

The film has a nice simple premise and a single-setting location that works well. The characters are all pretty bleak people, but they're entertaining enough for the most part. Everything is solid, but nothing is spectacular - and for that reason I fear this film won't be overly memorable for me. 6.5/10.

For some reason I had little hope for this one, but once I started I just had to watch the whole thing.

There no need for a big budget when you know when you are doing and you write up a good script.

No fillers, no fluff, no vacuous metaphors, ... Enought for you to understand the characters and to make you care about them.

Yeah, it leans on some stereotypes. And that's ok. That's what stereotypes exist for.

The action is also well done as well, by the way. Nothing flashy, just effective stuff that they let you clearly see.

Perfectly well done and perfectly enjoyable.

They could have used more money to get more famous actors and more flashy unrealistic action... but to be honest it doesn't it it; I'd say that it'd even make it more showbusiness-y and less storytelling-y.

Congrats to the team. Well done you.