Geekery: ‘Lucky Grandma’ is a Different Kind of Heist Movie
Good fortune comes with a cost in this black comedy from director Sasie Sealy. An elder widow ends up with a bag of cash that belongs to mobsters, landing her in the middle of a gang war in New York’s Chinatown in need of a budget bodyguard.
I’m a sucker for heist movies, especially if they have a novel premise like this. The movie got good reviews after its debut at Tribeca last year, critics praised Tsai Chin’s performance. She is fantastic actress with a career that spans seven decades – her more recognizable roles include Fu Manchu‘s daughter Lin Tang in several movies in the 1960s, Casino Royale, and Joy Luck Club. The cast also includes Corey Ha, Michael Tow, Woody Fu, Wai Ching Ho, and Clem Cheung.
In the heart of Chinatown, New York, an ornery, chain-smoking, newly widowed 80-year-old Grandma (Tsai Chin) is eager to live life as an independent woman, despite the worry of her family. When a local fortune teller predicts a most auspicious day in her future, Grandma decides to head to the casino and goes all in, only to land herself on the wrong side of luck… suddenly attracting the attention of some local gangsters. Desperate to protect herself, Grandma employs the services of a bodyguard from a rival gang (Corey Ha) and soon finds herself right in the middle of a Chinatown gang war.
