Institute History
Description
There is an original, bittersweet spin happening to the con-game genre in Seven Times Lucky, a tour-de-doublecross from Canadian writer/director G.B. Yates starring the talented everyman Kevin Pollak, and the Cheshire cat smile of Liane Balaban.
Together, they form an unlikely duo: Harlan the aging, small-time grifter, and Fiona, the beautiful, ambitious student, both of them shilling for chicken feed while dreaming of the larger score. When they finally get their big chance, all bets are off in a game of wits and outwits that leaves Harlan's life in deeper and deeper shambles. Living in his father's shattered shadow and going on tilt for the girl only make matters worse.
Influenced by the likes of crime novelists Jim Thompson and Raymond Chandler, the film deepens a world and makes it feel so fresh that it's easy to be swindled.
But there's more at work than just a shell game in the ageless cinematography of this Edward Hopper landscape at Christmas—there are a love and longing: for a simpler life, for something more trustworthy, for someone to love you… and with a confident hand, Seven Times Lucky is not afraid to roll the dice and let you decide who deserves it all.