Why did the chicken cross the road? “Lucy in the Sky” answers the age-old question

Acclaimed writer Noah Hawley attempts the jump to feature length film with the help of star Natalie Portman

“Why does the chicken cross the road?” Natalie Portman’s character asks in flawless Texas drawl, apropos of nothing.

“What?” replies her confused niece, staring blankly from the passenger side of the car.

“‘What’ is the wrong question. The question is how badly does it want to get to the other side.”

This question, and Portman’s answer, permeates the entire experience of watching Lucy in the Sky. It’s first mentioned during a drive in the middle of the movie, then revisited during the movie’s climax, when Portman comes to an unsatisfying answer: “The chicken wanted to see what was on the other side, it wanted to explore.”

A more appropriate answer, at least within the context of the movie, is that the chicken was unhappy with the side of the road it was on. This is the kind of big, existential question that might run through one of Noah Hawley’s novels, like 2016 best-seller “Before the Fall,” or through a season of “Fargo,” the television show he writes and runs. Hawley is a master storyteller, and more importantly, he’s an…