Lucky Bastard
The found footage offers a rawness to the film, and the actors do a great job of melting into that false reality.
Lucky Bastard
Lucky Bastard is the found-footage story of a pornographic website that sponsors a contest for its subscribers—a contest in which the prize is having sex with a porn star. The entire film is shot from the point of view of the website’s cameras recording the on-screen and behind-the-scenes action.
At the center of the story are: porn star Ashley Saint (Betsy Rue); Mike (Don McManus), who owns the Lucky Bastard website; and Dave G. (Jay Paulson), the unsuspecting subscriber who wins the contest. The Lucky Bastard employees treat their work matter-of-factly. As Mike says, “We’re like any other business; we could be selling insurance in Peoria.” Mike once clearly had more serious artistic ambitions; now he shoots the Lucky Bastard website’s content. Ashley, his most popular performer, initially refuses to participate. She dismisses the contest as “sick,” knowing that the winner will eventually be humiliated by the experience. Ashley views herself as an entertainer supporting her two children; the contest is nothing she would call “adult entertainment.”
Nevertheless, she gives in to Mike. The young contest winner, Dave G., quickly discovers himself to be a pawn in a game of commerce. When, as Ashley predicted, he becomes humiliated, his personality is transformed and he seeks revenge on his tormentors. In this world, where everyone is safe within its borders, an outsider poses the ultimate danger. Those who humiliated him will discover that humiliation as entertainment, now an American pastime, has consequences they could never have expected.
“A soulful lead performance by Betsy Rue, along with director Robert Nathan’s refusal to exploit LUCKY BASTARD’s racy milieu, ground this compelling found-footage thriller about a porn shoot gone wrong.” (Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly)
At the center of the story are: porn star Ashley Saint (Betsy Rue); Mike (Don McManus), who owns the Lucky Bastard website; and Dave G. (Jay Paulson), the unsuspecting subscriber who wins the contest. The Lucky Bastard employees treat their work matter-of-factly. As Mike says, “We’re like any other business; we could be selling insurance in Peoria.” Mike once clearly had more serious artistic ambitions; now he shoots the Lucky Bastard website’s content. Ashley, his most popular performer, initially refuses to participate. She dismisses the contest as “sick,” knowing that the winner will eventually be humiliated by the experience. Ashley views herself as an entertainer supporting her two children; the contest is nothing she would call “adult entertainment.”
Nevertheless, she gives in to Mike. The young contest winner, Dave G., quickly discovers himself to be a pawn in a game of commerce. When, as Ashley predicted, he becomes humiliated, his personality is transformed and he seeks revenge on his tormentors. In this world, where everyone is safe within its borders, an outsider poses the ultimate danger. Those who humiliated him will discover that humiliation as entertainment, now an American pastime, has consequences they could never have expected.
“A soulful lead performance by Betsy Rue, along with director Robert Nathan’s refusal to exploit LUCKY BASTARD’s racy milieu, ground this compelling found-footage thriller about a porn shoot gone wrong.” (Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly)
Genre
Drama
Web Site
Runtime
94
Language
English
Director
Robert Nathan
Cast
Jay Paulson,
Betsy Rue
FEATURED REVIEW
Scott Weinberg, FEARnet
One of the keys to nailing a "found footage" movie is to give your audience a good reason as to why cameras are always running -- even when mass carnage is underway. It's not always believable that a woman would hang on to a video camera while she's being chased by a raving maniac, but it is sort of ...
Played at
NoHo 7 3.07.14 - 3.13.14
Lucky Bastard Get Tickets
There are currently no showtimes for this film. Please check back soon.