Here
is some local color for you: Chinatown is a major hub for casino buses.
Unfortunately, that makes it easy for this rather jaded Grandma to get in
trouble. Her gambling does not work out, but she still takes her opportunities where
she finds them—just like her fortune teller predicted. Grandma Wong will
antagonize one of the most dangerous gangs in Chinatown, but she is still in no
mood to apologize or back down in Sasie Sealy’s Lucky Grandma, which screens during the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.
Frankly, Grandma Wong is not all that broken up over her long-time husband’s death, but the precarious state he left their finances is deeply distressing. Encouraged by a happy-feel-good fortune reading, Grandma sets off to Foxwoods, determined to win big, which she does—before losing it all. Yet, she enjoys a reversal of fortune when the old reprobate in the seat next to her dies on the drive home, leaving a duffle bag full of cash for a quick-thinking Grandma to nonchalantly carry away.
Frankly, Grandma Wong is not all that broken up over her long-time husband’s death, but the precarious state he left their finances is deeply distressing. Encouraged by a happy-feel-good fortune reading, Grandma sets off to Foxwoods, determined to win big, which she does—before losing it all. Yet, she enjoys a reversal of fortune when the old reprobate in the seat next to her dies on the drive home, leaving a duffle bag full of cash for a quick-thinking Grandma to nonchalantly carry away.
It
turns out, he was a courier for one of the local gangs, who wants their money
back. Of course, this Grandma is not so easily intimidated. Instead of
panicking, she heads straight to a rival gang whose protection services she
hires. In a twist, they will actually live up to the term “protection,” out of
pride and disgust with their horrible rivals, whom they assume just started picking
on Grandma for no reason. At first, Grandma is not so thrilled to be stuck with
the schlubbiest gang member as her bodyguard, but she soon takes a shine to
good-natured Big Pong.
This
is the sort of film that could have been absolutely insufferable, but it is
actually a real kick, thanks to Tsai Chin’s bone-dry, acid-tongued performance
as Grandma Wong. This is no sentimental On
Golden Pond in Chinatown. This is screw-U attitude mixed with the special
brand of misanthropy that comes with age. Grandma Wong is a wonderfully tart
and vinegary character and it is a role that Chin totally knocks out of the
park.
Chin
also develops some warmly winning surrogate-grandmother-grandson chemistry with
Corey Ha’s Big Pong. They play off each other nicely, while the enormous differences
of physique and body language makes them amusing to watch as soon as they are
brought together.