‘Lucky Grandma’ is Sasie Sealy’s film debut as both director and co-writer, with the help of Angela Cheng. ‘Lucky Grandma’ will also be Angela Cheng’s first feature film debut as a writer. Trust me when I say they do not disappoint. ‘Lucky Grandma’ is an incredibly dark-comedy story focusing on an eighty-year-old woman named Grandmam that lives in Chinatown, New York. After going to a casino, Grandma has gone through a series of bad luck when she steals money from a gangster who had a heart attack.
Tsai Chin, who plays the main character, Grandma, does a great job portraying her character. In the first twenty minutes of the movie, Tsai Chin’s performance does not rely on a lot of dialogue. Instead, Tsai Chin focuses on her body language and eyes, which tells a lot about her character. Stong, independent, stubborn, and quick-tempered are some of Tsai Chin personality traits that fit the description of what the tone of Grandma would be since her zodiac sign is an Ox.
It is also thanks to Sasie Sealy and Angela Cheng’s writing that makes Grandma’s character work as much as Tsai Chin’s acting ability. Not many writers/directors can make an interesting character while having minimal dialogue in the first twenty minutes of a film. Still, Sasie Sealy and Angela Cheng manage to pull it off, whether from the casino scene, where you can see Grandma’s over-confidence as she is on her winning streak, or when she loses it all near the end of the casino scene. That one scene shows the desperation of Tsai Chin character while still being funny at the same time.
While listing to the Scriptnotes Podcast, I recently learned that screenwriters rarely visit film sets. Because of this, directors might mess up the original vision from a screenwriter, and the results would usually be bad; of course, they are some exceptions. With that said, when it comes to ‘Lucky Grandma,’ the director is the co-writer of the film. Meaning the film will feel that much more authentic, and it does.
In addition to the writing, one of the biggest highlights of ‘Lucky Grandma’ was the visuals. There are some moments where the cinematography enhanced the movie-going experience. A great example of this is when Grandma gets harassed by Little Handsome and Pock-Mark in the hair solan. Overall, Eduardo Enrique Mayén did a beautiful job of lighting each scene to the camera movements. While watching ‘Lucky Grandma,’ it did feel like Eduardo Enrique Mayén executed everything Sasie Sealy wanted in this movie.
Overall, ‘Lucky Grandma’ works on multiple different levels. It gives audiences both comedy and drama, having significant character interactions and a fantastic story, but ultimately making the film entertaining. ‘Lucky Grandma’ is a big must-watch.
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