Chain smoking, recently widowed Grandma played by Tsai Chin is at the age where everyone wants to take care of her, but independent Grandma has ideas of her own. During a bit of an annoying dinner with her son Howard (Eddie Yu) and his family, Howard tells her he`d like her to stay with him, stating to her, that she can`t look after herself let alone afford to stay alone. Armed with the knowledge from local fortune teller (Wai Ching Ho) that some good fortune, is heading her way. Grandma sets off on the Golden Panda casino bus, to try her luck at the tables. On the way home, a Gangster sits next to her on a bus, with a big bag of money. Opportunity presents itself and Grandma takes the bag. In doing so, she attracts a lot of attention from the local gangsters of her neighbourhood in Chinatown New York. Grandma has now landed herself in the middle of a Gang War. After a visit from disturbing duo Pock Mark (Woody Fu) & Little Handsome (Michael Tow) at her apartment. Grandma knows that she needs to protect herself and hires Big Pong (Hsaio-Yuan Ha) as her bodyguard from a rival gang.

Director/ Sasie Sealt co-wrote the film with Angela Cheng, they do such a good job in keeping you hooked and caring about Grandma. All the way to an end that you are expecting, but you are happy to have come along for the journey. It`s a very interesting idea for a film. With a running time of just, only 87 minutes. Lucky Grandma gets to the point very quickly. Not a mainstream film, one we'd show at my work, more an arthouse thread to it. Which for me was a breath of fresh air, as the film was not what I was expecting, at all. A quirky poignant coming of age film for the elderly that deserves to be watched. Tsai Chin is excellent in the lead role. With an amazing career, ranging from the Fu Manchu films, with Christopher Lee, Red Corner with Richard Gere, to Casino Royale, to name a few in her long-standing career. She`s very impressive here – the film rests squarely on her very capable shoulders. The best scenes for me are between her and Big Pong, some nice, funny and some moving. These scenes are the heart of the film. Which builds up slowly and surely to the explosive final. One other stand out scene for me is in a steam room, where Sister Pong, who the bag of money belongs to. Drugs Grandma, after an awesome exchange of words. Don't expect action from start to finish, but when it comes, it`s delivered so well. Don't expect a laugh a minute comedy. This is a film you need to think about, when watching it, with humour that is very clever, and subtlety done.

There is a whole wonderful world of non-mainstream movies, Arthouse cinema, it is called. I have had the pleasure of working as a projectionist, at one such cinema Eden Court Theatre & Cinema in Inverness. In my time of being there since I was 16 years old. I have seen some gems of films, that you would not see in a Multiplex. Lucky Grandma, is one such little Gem – go and find it…

Signature Entertainment presents Lucky Grandma on Digital HD NOW

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *