I had received a recommendation to watch Lucky on Shudder, and I had heard that this was one of the best movies of the year. No doubt that it is a solid new take on the slasher movie with a message to say. Natasha Kermani directed the film and leaves some things maddeningly unresolved.

The general idea behind the story is that May (Brea Grant), a self-help book author, is in a shaky marriage with her husband Ted (Dhruv Uday Singh), but she is being attacked by a home invader every night and she has to fight him off to survive.

People she tells either does not believe her or does nothing to help her and she continues to be frustrated by events. When ted leaves her alone, she becomes even more worried as the strange events repeat themselves every night, no matter where she is.

As the film progresses toward the conclusion, it becomes apparent that Lucky is more about the message and less about the plot. It seems to be a gigantic metaphor for the way women are treated and about the issue of misogyny in the lives of women.

My first instinct when the film ended was that I wanted more, I wanted more of a conclusion to the story than what the film was presenting. However, upon reflection, Lucky became more about the idea than the story. It deals with the struggle of women in the world and the challenges that they have to fight to accomplish. It does discard much of the narrative structure to end the film with a shocking turn, leaving the results very unresolved. It is a fascinating film that takes some big swings that mostly create the image that Natasha Kermani wants to project.

This won’t be for everyone, but the message is important and dominates the movie.

3.5 stars