How much luck does one need to make it in America? Lloyd Lee Choi‘s feature directorial debut “Lucky Lu” confronts the tenuous nature of achieving the American Dream, as the indie centers on an immigrant delivery messenger (Chang Chen) whose life is upended after his bike is stolen.
Choi wrote the script as an expansion of his short film “Same Old,” which premiered at the 75th Cannes Film Festival in the Main Competition and went on to screen at TIFF with a Special Jury Mention and New York Film Festival before winning Best Short at Raindance. “Lucky Lu” now debuts at Cannes in Directors’ Fortnight as a buzzy sales title. Indie filmmaker turned Marvel mainstay Destin Daniel Cretton produces the feature.
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The official logline reads: “‘Lucky Lu’ follows a New York City delivery rider whose world is turned upside down when he loses his only source of income. With his long-estranged family finally on their way from Asia, Lu is forced to navigate the unforgiving city and fight to protect the fragile life he’s spent all these years building.” Fala Chen and Carabelle Manna Wei co-star.
“The initial idea for ‘Lucky Lu’ came about during the height of the first wave of the pandemic, a traumatic period for everyone,” Choi said in a press statement. “As a New Yorker, I and millions of others survived off of the services of essential workers … not just for life saving care, but for the simple yet crucial necessity of being fed every day while trapped in our apartments. Living in New York, the image of a food delivery driver is a pervasive one. We see them day and night, nameless, faceless men in hefty jackets and beat-up helmets whipping through the streets on their e-bikes. The sight of these electric vehicles pervading the NYC soundscape has become as classic of an image as the yellow cab over the last few years. Largely, these riders are immigrants juggling dozens of food orders at once and working long hours through the cold, wind, and rain.”
Choi continued, “Our interactions with these hardened workers are transient and transactional. For that split second when the door opens before they hand over our food, these strangers peek into our lives. And yet, these delivery riders, that are often overlooked, hold space in our communities and often share the same hopes and dreams of progress that we do. This was the world I wanted to explore in ‘Lucky Lu.’ A world that is unforgiving and exists in near invisibility right in front of our eyes and even in our homes each day … yet one that we never truly notice. This daily grind and nearly invisible struggle that exists all around us is fascinating to me. Next time you are answering your door or walking down the street, imagine that the man whipping past you on an e-bike is Lu, an ‘essential worker,’ a regular man, a flawed human, just trying to provide for the ones he loves.”
Along with Cretton, “Lucky Lu” is produced by Nina Yang Bongiovi, Asher Goldstein, Tony Yang, Ron Najor, and Jeyun Munford. The executive producers include Forest Whitaker, Kevin M. Lin, Michael Y. Chow, Jason A. Lin, Bing Chen, Maggie Hsu, Nicole Tao, Clara Wu Tsai, Jamie Liin, Daphne Lee, Peng Zhao, Jennifer J. Pritzker, Van Ness Wu, Steve D. Yang, Dajun Yang, and Yifan Zhai. “Lucky Lu” is a Hisako Films, Significant Productions, Cedar Road, and Big Buddha Pictures production.
“Lucky Lu” will premiere at Cannes 2025 Directors’ Fortnight as a sales title, with WME handling North American rights and Film Constellation with world. Check out the first look below.
