Woods Hole Film Festival 2009

In September 2005, Tom Luckey was designing a three-story-tall climbable sculpture for the Boston Children’s Museum. It was to be the culminating masterpiece of a career building interactive art. Then one morning, Tom fell through a window in his house. When he regained consciousness, he could move only his head. Now he’s a quadriplegic. Determined to finish his sculpture, Tom turns to his son Spencer for help. Over the years, Spencer had helped install several of Tom’s sculptures, but their egos clash. At the time of Tom’s fall, Spencer was following his own career path as an architect. Tom’s accident and Spencer’s sense of a son’s obligation brings them back together, but they are fiercely competitive. Spencer wants to help, but he also wants to play a dominant role in his father's work. Since Tom can no longer move his hands he needs Spencer, but he doesn’t want Spencer to take over. Further complicating matters is the fact that Spencer and Tom’s wife (Spencer’s stepmother) don’t get along. Over the years, they have learned to avoid each other, but Tom’s paralysis brings them into frequent contact because they are Tom’s primary companions. As Tom and Spencer build the sculpture, their relationship becomes increasingly stressed and fractured. Against the backdrop of Tom’s efforts to rebuild his life after his paralysis, LUCKEY is a story of intense love and rivalry between a father and son.