Seven Times Lucky (2004)

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Seven Times Lucky (2004)

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Seven Times Lucky (2004)
English | Subtitle: English | 1h 22mn | 640*352 | 23.976 fps | XVID ~ 872 Kbps | MP3 2ch ~ 313 Kbps | 700 MB
Genre: Drama | Crime | Film-noir

Harlan (Kevin Pollak), the hero of Gary Yates's sly, smart and seriously entertaining first feature Seven Times Lucy, is the last in the line of scammers, hustlers and black market bottom-feeders. He's a bag man for Eddi (Babz Chula), one of Winnipeg's most prominent fences, and also runs his own
sketchy crew including punkish pickpocket Fiona (Liane Balaban) and Sonny (Jonas Chernick), a local dimwit Harlan keeps around primarily out of pity.
But then Harlan is the kind of mug who's easily put upon. As the film opens, he gets a hot tip on a horse race and has a whack of cash - the undelivered weekly droop - beckoning from the top of his dresser. Not surprisingly, the bet fails to pay off, sparking a series of cons that (given those involved) invariably go down twisted.
Part thriller, part caper flick, but primarily a character study, Seven Times Lucky is reminiscent of under appreciated seventies classics like Robert Benton's The Late Show or Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye. Its characters are anachronisms, still living and dressing as if it were the forties or pretending to lead normal lives. (The first time we see the ruthless local kingpin, Mr. Five Wounds (Fordon Tootoosis), he's making Christmas decorations.) Of course, these fillips give events a comic feel, but they also underline the central split between those whose affiliations extend beyond the cash nexus - and those who only care about money. Here, affectation is a mark of sincerity.

Exquisitely shot by Steve Cosens, Seven Times Lucky oozes a scuzzy yet sophisticated beauty. A shot of Harlan nursing a twisted ankle in the ice machine at his flophouse recalls Edward Hopper, while the motel where Harlan's gang plans its big con suggests a pink neon Lee Friedlander. The milieu inverts the usual assumptions of hard-boiled detective stories: instead of the charismatic gumshoe, we follow a low-rent hoodlum (the type Marlowe would regularly beat up) anxious to escape his dead-end existence, but not desperate enough to screw just anyone. Expertly directed, Seven Times Lucky features a stellar cast, led by Pollak, who delivers what could only be described as a real star turn - one Bogart might have admired.

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Seven Times Lucky (2004)

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Seven Times Lucky (2004)

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Seven Times Lucky (2004)

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Seven Times Lucky (2004)

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Seven Times Lucky (2004)

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