Long, a Vietnamese driver in Southern California, answers a late-night call for a ride. Already in his pajamas, he reluctantly accepts, picking up a man, Tây, and his two companions. But the men, recently escaped convicts from an Orange County jail, take Long hostage at gunpoint, thrusting him into their getaway plan. When complications arise, the fugitives and their hostage hole up at a motel, and a tense waiting game unfolds.
Review notes:
The Accidental Getaway Driver is a hostage film that refuses to take hostages. Instead it hold the audience hostage by engaging in endless back story, lives recalling the past, evading the future. There’s a little menace and threatening innuendo to keep one hoping some action might happen, but it never comes soon enough.
This story should have been set in a cell block, not in a Toyota and cheap hotel rooms. Call it the Non-riot in Cell Block 6, or Sing Sing Pity Party.
With four fifths of the main cast being Vietnamese and the other fifth being French, I suspect there is an allegory about the history of Vietnam being formed.
The Accidental Getaway Driver stumbles away from conflict towards reconciliation, understanding, unity, creating family as if the cultural conflicts of sixty years of Vietnamese immigrant history are getting their reunification and almost happy ending.
DIRECTOR(S) SING J. LEE SCREENWRITER SING J. LEE CHRISTOPHER CHEN PRODUCER KIMBERLY STEWARD BASIL IWANYK ANDY SORGIE BRENDON BOYEA JOSEPH HIẾU EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS BARBARA BROCCOLI MICHAEL G. WILSON JENNIFER J. PRITZKER PETER M. CARLINO LUISA LAW SCOTT LASTAITI JOSH GODFREY KENNER BOLT KENNETH YU PAUL KIX CO-PRODUCER JES VŨ CASTING DIRECTOR CHRISTIAN BUSTAMANTE DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY MICHAEL CAMBIO FERNANDEZ PRODUCTION DESIGNER HANRUI WANG COSTUME DESIGNER KIM NGÔ EDITOR YANG-HUA HU ASSISTANT DIRECTOR JOSH MONTES BASED ON THE ARTICLE BY PAUL KIX SCORE JULIAN SAPORITI JON ONG PRINCIPAL CAST HIỆP TRẦN NGHĨA DUSTIN NGUYEN DALI BENSSALAH PHI VŨ GABRIELLE CHAN YEAR 2022 CATEGORY FEATURE COUNTRY UNITED STATES LANGUAGE ENGLISH, VIETNAMESE RUN TIME 117 MIN
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