Review: An immigrant’s tale leads down a dangerous path in crime drama ‘Lucky’

An ethnically diverse cast and authentic New York locations help to effectively ground “Lucky,” a palpably gritty, if familiar, take on the immigrant experience.

Hustling up just enough work — legit and otherwise — to save up for a green card marriage and send a little money to his mother back home each month, soft-spoken Lucky (the film’s writer-director Bari Kang) is just another of the immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, struggling to live the dream.

But he soon finds himself heading down an increasingly slippery slope when he takes a job as a driver for a slick, coked-up drug dealer (Alfredo Diaz) following the disappearance of his gambling addict business partner (Daniel Jordano).

While you might know from the get-go where this is heading — the promise of a shortcut to a better life has provided the ill-fated temptation for many similarly themed dramas — Kang, in his filmmaking debut, proves adept at capturing background detail with a close-up, hand-held authenticity.

Quietly taking in life through the rear-view mirror of his cab, Lucky can come across as a little too virtuous to be true in his compulsion to serve as protector for the various women in his orbit.

It’s largely a reactive role but one that allows plenty of dramatic grist for others, especially Diaz and Natalia Zvereva as a good-hearted hooker with a keen survival instinct, to strut their stuff.

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‘Lucky’

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills

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