Kathleen Ponders: Who Are "The Lucky Ones"?

With all the Oscar buzz, along with the discussions we've had lately in the convertible about how many of the nominees we've seen and whether we're even interested, I've been thinking about storytelling in movies. It occurs to me that some of the best storytelling can be found in independent films, and I'm wondering why that is.

Here's one we rented recently and really enjoyed. "The Lucky Ones" features a fine cast and a good relationship story. It's a simple story--one that's been told time and again--but it's one that hits home for me, and I think our Topdowners (I liked that term, MichelleB!) would enjoy it.

Three soldiers just home from Iraq meet at a New York airport gate where flight schedule screens show a flood of cancellations. They've never met, have little except a general direction in common, but they end up renting a car together. Cheever (Tim Robbins) is headed for St. Louis with a discharge after a porta-potty fell on his back. Colee (Rachel McAdams), still limping from a leg wound, plans to use her 30 days to deliver a guitar to a dead soldier's family in Vegas. TK (Michael Peña) is going to Vegas, too. His wound has left him impotent, and he's looking for a way to get his groove back so his girlfriend back home won't have to go looking for woodier pastures. There's a great deal of humor here, and it's played naturally. The characters feel like real people dealing with stranger-than-fiction circumstances. Different personalities who come to care about each other in a way that only people who have shared one of life's most bizarre circumstances can. (Having lots of family and friends who've been there, I can still only guess.)

This is a road picture, and these characters are riding with baggage, trying very hard to keep the top up, or screwed on in the face of one storm after another. It's the friends-become-family, us-against-the world theme with some twists. The characters and the actors make this movie. It's the kind of story fans of relationship stories love. That would be me. But it was also a movie that kept hubby watching beginning to end. It had both of us laughing. Michael Peña is a dead ringer for a nephew whom we lost a year ago, but the character he plays--a guy who's Army all the way--reminds us of lots of family members. (Lots of military on both sides.) Colee is a wonderful character--the school of hard knocks hasn't killed her optimism. Cheever is the family man who just wants to get back to his life. Early on he discovers that, in his absence, life has moved on.

I've always liked Tim Robbins, and I expected more of an anti-war feel in this movie simply because I'm familiar with his political views. Not so. This movie is not about politics. It's about people. Even though it's absolutely contemporary, with a few adjustments it could be about soldiers returning home from any war. It won't be the "Coming Home" for our time, but it's head and shoulders above so many movies we've seen lately. I recommend it.

I find a lot to like among the Indies--the small budget films, many of them, like this one, available in theaters only in limited release. When I see good actors heading up the cast in an independent film, I'm there. So many big name actors say they look to the Indies for the best scripts, the best parts. They do the Indies for love and the big budget studio pictures for money. But the good Indies are easy to miss unless they break out, like "Slumdog Millionaire." It's mostly word of mouth.

Have you seen any good Indies lately? Do tell.