Sundance Review: Sing J. Lee’s “The Accidental Getaway Driver.”

The random getaway driver is one of those rare films that pops up every so often to inspire festivals and adventurous viewers looking for something new and different. Overall, it’s nothing new, a dark crime drama populated by cars, guns and desperate characters. But the film, which debuted in the American Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, benefits greatly from being set in the rarely filmed area of ​​Little Saigon in Orange County south of Los Angeles; a highly unlikely cast dominated by an eight-year-old who isn’t looking for trouble; and, crucially, a noir night milieu that instills fear into the plot, even with a final section, doesn’t really pay off with the kind of tension you’d expect from a crime drama. Despite the lack of a thrilling climax, this is a film that draws you in and is satisfying enough to attract genre lovers and others eager to enjoy a good new brew in an old bottle.

Poor old Long Mother. It is late at night and the elderly taxi driver (Hiệp Trần Nghĩa) is already home in his small apartment, tired from a long day, when he receives a last-minute call offering good money. He willingly goes back into the night and finds his three possible passengers, but is promptly kidnapped for his trouble and taken to a nearby motel room by desperate bums who have just escaped from prison. The room is no place to stay without the criminals for company.

The bad boss is Tay (Dustin Nguyen), a young tough guy who likes to swing a gun and has taken Long hostage to help the trio escape. Old Long had many guns during the Vietnam War from which he eventually escaped and fled to the United States, leaving his entire family behind. The rest of the characters here were left far behind when it all happened, but for Long, the war and its aftermath was a lasting burden that he would never shake. The stark contrast between generations is stark, and the fact that Long is again facing extreme violence after all these years is extremely disturbing.

Still, the self-proclaimed gangsters don’t let him go at this point, and the film slowly turns from a hard-hitting crime thriller into something more sensitive and thought-provoking. It’s understandable that director Sing J. Lee, who co-wrote the screenplay with Christopher Chen, wants to explore the similarities and differences between generations of Vietnamese and the violence that binds them together. It also marks the time to come when few Vietnamese will have memories of the war and the once divided country.

The impact and allure of the story slowly diminishes as the film progresses; The shock and threat of kidnapping is not the same tangible threat after a while, and the last stretch is like waiting for a long-floating balloon to come to rest. Nevertheless, the film has a welcome appeal to connected but very different generations because of its distinctive setting and subject matter, unusual protagonist, thoughtful shooting style and perspective.