Lucky Grandma

Found this movie via Alamo's OnDemand site - Lucky Grandma has something for everyone: Light humor, mob intrigue, a lovingly shot Chinatown, and a stand-out score that yanked me in with the first blast of the brass choir.

I don't think there are enough stories featuring the 70+ crowd out there; Tsai Chin paints a very human picture of entitlement (damn the consequences) after a life of hard work. Who doesn't deserve a sack of cash for making it that far?

'Lucky Grandma (2019)' stars Tsai Chin as a recently widowed, chain-smoking, no-nonsense Nai Nai who takes a trip to a casino after her fortune teller predicts extreme good luck and soon finds herself in possession of a large amount of money. Unfortunately, the money doesn't land in her lap the way she expects it to, and it certainly doesn't come with no strings as she'd hoped. Instead, her good luck quickly turns sour, or is at the very least far more complicated than she's comfortable with, and she finds herself in need of a bodyguard. Enter Big Pong, a gentle giant who's humorously mistaken as our hero's boyfriend at one point by her grandchild. Much of the movie is about the bond which forms between protector and protectee, as well as the various mistakes and mishaps that occur in the aftermath of the protagonist's lucky day, and the flick bounces between dark comedy and relationship drama in almost equal measure. It's quaint, led by a commanding central performance and filled with quirky moments that weave a tapestry of believable idiosyncrasies across the flick's Chinatown setting. It never quite gets out of second gear, though, and it ultimately doesn't really feel like it amounts to all that much. It's rough around the edges, with some fairly clunky acting and clumsy action set-pieces, but it's charming enough to keep you watching. It's also fairly well-observed, with its world feeling tangible and most of its characters seeming real (or, at least, real enough). It's short but sweet, an underwhelming yet enjoyable mixture of crime drama, dark comedy and quiet contemplation. It isn't as good as it could've been, but it's still a solid effort overall.

Sometime you just can't put China away and hope it will forget how powerful a force it is on earth. Lucky Grandma is set in NYC's Chinatown while Polanski's Chinatown ends on the opposite coast, unifying so to speak. A family's concern about the welfare of Grandma (Tsai Chin) after Grandpa's death is exacerbated by her finding a load of mobster money after her visit to a Casino. The gangsters want it back, and she's her smoking, feisty little self not willingly to give anything to anyone.

Some stereotypes crop up like the recalcitrant grandma, the feckless mobsters, and the way too deferential family. Best of all is her very big bodyguard, Big Pong (whom you would expect is loveable, and he is.) While the tight little drama allows major players to face down the mob, mostly the family itself comes up with ways to keep things moving in the case of the immoveable grand mom. If you feel you may have met some of the eccentrics before, you have, in the memorable characters out of The Coen Brothers, whom freshman director Sasie Sealy acknowledges as a big influence.

Although China cannot downplay the effects of its virus activity, we are aware that like Corona, the virus has no firm idea from whence it came or where it will end.

Even the music! Andrew Orkin's jazz score is a unifier that would fit right in anywhere. While this Chinatown promises a melancholy return to good practices and loving families, we know better. For a strong small film to enjoy, those who have had a wisecracking grandma can remember once more an audience global and powerful.

Easily one of the most uneven films of the year. The first half is a quite funny black comedy but in the second half it just kind of drops that and becomes a far more straight crime drama. The joke is I guess there's this grumpy old lady at the centre of it but that in and of itself isn't that funny. It actually becomes a bit sad and not in a good emotional way, sad in a 'I don't want to see gangsters attempt to strangle and shoot an old lady' kind of way. But at the same time she's not a particularly good person or sympathetic character so I don't really care that much either. What a strange experience this film is.

They don't come that much more un-Hollywood (quirky) than Lucky Grandma...when was the last time you watched a movie with a droll 80yr old chain-smoking woman as the main star? Is Grandma lucky? Well, challenged would be a better fit. Poor Grandma, 40 odd years working hard beside her husband only to find she's been left with virtually nothing. The best thing we can take away from this story is; Luck is an illusion you can't bank on...no matter what the fortune readers may tell you.

While there are good helpings of ironic humour and comical situations 'Grandma' at times presents with some slightly unsettling violence, occasioning death, courtesy of rivalry between a couple of local Chinese crime gangs. To find out how Grandma is drawn into these situations you'll just have to watch. Thankfully, the links with family offer an all-important and warming strength to Grandmas very edgy entrapments.

There are plenty of odd, well played Characters injecting fun throughout, along with some rather sinister types you'd be happy not to meet. An imaginative music score from Andrew Orkin adds nice touches - while the visuals provided by El Salvadorian Cinematographer, Eduardo Enrique Mayen supply professional contrasts between New York Chinatown's side streets, back alleys, and grannies' meagre apartment...where it seems there's always someone knocking on her door!

The first theatrical feature from director/writer Sasie Sealy gives us good cause to want to see her next effort.