# Lucky Lu
**Lucky Lu** (幸福之路) is a 2025 drama film directed and written by Lloyd Lee Choi, in his feature debut, about a Chinese food delivery rider in New York City whose electric bike, his only source of income, is stolen just as his wife and daughter arrive from Asia after a five-year separation.[3](https://www.thefestivalagency.com/film/lucky-lu/) • [6](https://www.quinzaine-cineastes.fr/fr/film/lucky-lu) The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine des cinéastes) at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2025, where it competed for the Caméra d'or.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34000545/releaseinfo/) • [6](https://www.quinzaine-cineastes.fr/fr/film/lucky-lu)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Lloyd Lee Choi, a Korean-Canadian filmmaker based in Brooklyn; his first feature[6](https://www.quinzaine-cineastes.fr/fr/film/lucky-lu) |
| World premiere | May 19, 2025, Directors' Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival; Caméra d'or contender[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34000545/releaseinfo/) • [6](https://www.quinzaine-cineastes.fr/fr/film/lucky-lu) |
| Cast | Chang Chen (Lu Jia Cheng), Fala Chen (Si Yu), Carabelle Manna Wei (Yaya)[6](https://www.quinzaine-cineastes.fr/fr/film/lucky-lu) |
| Runtime and languages | 103 minutes; Mandarin and English; United States and Canada[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34000545) |
| Story span | About 48 hours, from the theft of the e-bike to the family's arrival[11](https://wifilmfest.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/1554/2026/03/WFF_2026_Guide.pdf) |
| Theatrical releases | United States October 10, 2025; France January 7, 2026 (distributor KMBO)[8](https://www.fandango.com/lucky-lu-2025-243278/movie-overview) • [9](https://digitalcine.fr/fiches-films/86658-fiche-film-lucky-lu-cannes-2025/) |
| Recognition | Nominated at the 62nd Golden Horse Awards for Best Leading Actor, Best New Director, and Best Original Film Score[15](https://www.scff.sg/project/%E5%B9%B8%E7%A6%8F%E4%B9%8B%E8%B7%AF-lucky-lu/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Lu Jia Cheng, played by [Chang Chen](https://www.edgepedia.org/chang-chen), has spent five years working in New York's gig economy as a delivery rider, saving money to rent a small apartment so he can bring his wife Si Yu ([Fala Chen](https://www.edgepedia.org/fala-chen)) and daughter Yaya (Carabelle Manna Wei) over from China.[11](https://wifilmfest.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/1554/2026/03/WFF_2026_Guide.pdf) With his family already on the plane, two disasters strike on the same day: his employer-leased electric bike is stolen, cutting off his only income, and he discovers he has been defrauded in a rental scam, losing his housing advance and owing a second payment on the lease.[17](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/05/19/cannes-2025-lucky-lu-une-course-contre-l-endettement-dans-les-rues-de-new-york_6607229_3246.html) The French festival-circuit account puts the loss at nearly 3,000 dollars, all of his savings, with the apartment at risk on the very day his wife and daughter land in New York.[9](https://digitalcine.fr/fiches-films/86658-fiche-film-lucky-lu-cannes-2025/)
The film follows Lu across roughly 48 hours as he scrambles through [Chinatown](https://www.edgepedia.org/chinatown) and the wider city, begging, borrowing, and working to recover what he has lost before his family ends up on the street.[11](https://wifilmfest.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/1554/2026/03/WFF_2026_Guide.pdf) When his daughter finally arrives, she does not recognize her father, telling him that "Papa doesn't look like papa."[17](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/05/19/cannes-2025-lucky-lu-une-course-contre-l-endettement-dans-les-rues-de-new-york_6607229_3246.html) Along the way the story moves through the work dynamics, support networks, and tensions of migrant delivery workers in New York.[14](https://www.lpafilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CATALOGO-CINE-26-CALAMEO.pdf)
## Production
**Origins.** *Lucky Lu* is an expansion of Choi's short film *Same Old*, which had its world premiere in competition at the 75th Cannes Film Festival in 2022.[17](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/05/19/cannes-2025-lucky-lu-une-course-contre-l-endettement-dans-les-rues-de-new-york_6607229_3246.html) Choi has said the feature draws on his own family's history of emigrating from Korea to Canada, and that where *Same Old* focused on the culturally specific impulse not to voice inner pain, *Lucky Lu* aims to show that immigrants, while facing some of the most difficult hurdles, are also "the luckiest, because they have been given this chance at a new life."[16](https://hiff.org/lucky-lu-hope-springs-eternal-in-lloyd-lee-choi-film/)
[Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) was scheduled to begin in New York, NY in November 2024, and the production companies include Hisako Films and Significant Productions.[12](https://www.productionlist.com/production/lucky-lu) The producers are [Destin Daniel Cretton](https://www.edgepedia.org/destin-daniel-cretton), Nina Yang Bongiovi, Asher Goldstein, Tony Yang, Ron Najor, and Jeyun Munford, with [Forest Whitaker](https://www.edgepedia.org/forest-whitaker) among the executive producers.[12](https://www.productionlist.com/production/lucky-lu) • [13](https://elgounafilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/English-Festival-Catalogue-GFF25.pdf) Norm Li served as cinematographer, Brendan Mills as editor, Charles Humenry as composer, and Evaline Wu Huang as production designer.[6](https://www.quinzaine-cineastes.fr/fr/film/lucky-lu) Global Constellation handled international sales and WME Independent represented North American rights; KMBO secured French distribution before the Cannes premiere.[10](https://www.wtyefm.com/2025/05/12/lloyd-lee-chois-lucky-lu-lands-french-distribution-ahead-of-cannes-directors-fortnight-premiere-exclusive/)
## Release and festival run
After the Cannes premiere, the film toured extensively through the 2025 festival circuit: Toronto (September 7), Busan (September 19), Deauville (September 12), Calgary, Vancouver, Hamburg, Jakarta, Mill Valley, London ([BFI London Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/bfi-london-film-festival), October 12), Hawai'i, AFI Fest (October 25), Stockholm, Denver, Hong Kong, Warsaw, QCinema in the Philippines, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (November 18), and TOKYO FILMeX (November 23).[2](https://letterboxd.com/film/lucky-lu/releases/) It opened theatrically in the United States on October 10, 2025, in France on January 7, 2026, and in Taiwan on January 29, 2026.[8](https://www.fandango.com/lucky-lu-2025-243278/movie-overview) • [2](https://letterboxd.com/film/lucky-lu/releases/) In France the film was released under the title *Les Lumières de New York*.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34000545/releaseinfo/)
## Reception and context
Critics have repeatedly placed the film in a realist lineage. The Milwaukee Film festival program described it as reminiscent of [Vittorio De Sica](https://www.edgepedia.org/vittorio-de-sica)'s *Bicycle Thieves*, trading Rome for New York City and the postwar European depression for the modern gig economy.[5](https://mkefilm.org/films/69b4328108e40294f2a6a52f) *Le Monde* similarly traced its models from *Bicycle Thieves* to the social survival dramas of the Dardenne brothers, and situated it in a recent current of American independent cinema attentive to diasporas seen from within, while noting that Choi replaces handheld pseudo-documentary style with a more "photographic" approach that cuts Brooklyn into small, enclosing spaces.[17](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/05/19/cannes-2025-lucky-lu-une-course-contre-l-endettement-dans-les-rues-de-new-york_6607229_3246.html) A DigitalCiné review from Cannes praised the film's restraint, noting the absence of showy close-ups and sentimental excess, and rated it 3.5 out of 5.[9](https://digitalcine.fr/fiches-films/86658-fiche-film-lucky-lu-cannes-2025/) A review in *In Review Online* observed that although Lu is on screen for nearly the entire film, the viewer learns little about his interior life.[18](https://inreviewonline.com/2025/09/07/lucky-lu-review/)
The film received nominations at the 62nd Golden Horse Awards for Best Leading Actor, Best New Director, and Best Original Film Score.[15](https://www.scff.sg/project/%E5%B9%B8%E7%A6%8F%E4%B9%8B%E8%B7%AF-lucky-lu/) IMDb listed 6 wins and 12 nominations overall.[4](https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt34000545/)
## References
1. [Lucky Lu (2025) – Release info, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34000545/releaseinfo/)
2. [Lucky Lu (2025) – Releases, Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/film/lucky-lu/releases/)
3. [Lucky Lu – The Festival Agency](https://www.thefestivalagency.com/film/lucky-lu/)
4. [Lucky Lu – Production & Contact Info, IMDbPro](https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt34000545/)
5. [Lucky Lu – Milwaukee Film](https://mkefilm.org/films/69b4328108e40294f2a6a52f)
6. [Lucky Lu – Quinzaine des cinéastes](https://www.quinzaine-cineastes.fr/fr/film/lucky-lu)
7. [Lucky Lu (2025) – IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34000545)
8. [Lucky Lu (2025) – Fandango](https://www.fandango.com/lucky-lu-2025-243278/movie-overview)
9. [Fiche film : Lucky Lu (Cannes 2025) – DigitalCiné](https://digitalcine.fr/fiches-films/86658-fiche-film-lucky-lu-cannes-2025/)
10. [Lloyd Lee Choi's 'Lucky Lu' Lands French Distribution Ahead of Cannes' Directors' Fortnight Premiere – WTYE](https://www.wtyefm.com/2025/05/12/lloyd-lee-chois-lucky-lu-lands-french-distribution-ahead-of-cannes-directors-fortnight-premiere-exclusive/)
11. [Wisconsin Film Festival 2026 Guide](https://wifilmfest.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/1554/2026/03/WFF_2026_Guide.pdf)
12. [Lucky Lu – Production List, Film & Television Industry Alliance](https://www.productionlist.com/production/lucky-lu)
13. [Feature Narrative Competition – El Gouna Film Festival 2025 Catalogue](https://elgounafilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/English-Festival-Catalogue-GFF25.pdf)
14. [LPA Film Festival Catalogo Cine 26](https://www.lpafilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CATALOGO-CINE-26-CALAMEO.pdf)
15. [幸福之路 Lucky Lu – Singapore Chinese Film Festival](https://www.scff.sg/project/%E5%B9%B8%E7%A6%8F%E4%B9%8B%E8%B7%AF-lucky-lu/)
16. [LUCKY LU: Hope Springs Eternal in Lloyd Lee Choi Film – Hawai'i International Film Festival](https://hiff.org/lucky-lu-hope-springs-eternal-in-lloyd-lee-choi-film/)
17. [Cannes 2025 : « Lucky Lu », une course contre l'endettement dans les rues de New York – Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/05/19/cannes-2025-lucky-lu-une-course-contre-l-endettement-dans-les-rues-de-new-york_6607229_3246.html)
18. [Lucky Lu — Lloyd Lee Choi [TIFF '25 Review] – In Review Online](https://inreviewonline.com/2025/09/07/lucky-lu-review/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2025 › Coming-of-age and family drama films*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license