Lucas (1986)

Peter McGinn

7.0

Sep 12, 2020

This is one of many movies I watched and recorded many, many years ago, probably off the fairly new HBO channel. I liked it enough at the time to not only keep the vhs tape, but also, when we transitioned to dvd, I used my DVD player/recorder to transfer it to a disk. Of course the viewing quality is subpar, but when I saw it is on a streaming service I don’t subscribe to, I decided to watch my flawed copy. I didn’t quite like it as much as I did previously, but perhaps the intervening 30 years have something to do with that. It is still a pleasant watch. Corey Haim does a fine job portrayi…

"Lucas" is a low key film throughout which tackles the difficult subject of first love and all the pain and heartbreak it can sometimes bring. It doesn't treat such delicate matters of the heart in a superficial manner and there is ample opportunity to actually get to know the small ensemble of characters at the heart of this film and that provides us with a genuine reason to become interested in them and in what happens to each one of them during the unfolding events of the story. The overall ambitions of this film are extremely modest and that is its strength, so when young Lucas achieves a…