Based on true events in which a Vietnamese driver is kidnapped by three convicts and used to ferry them in their escape, the story seems ready made for an “action thriller” adaptation.

But Lee had other plans when he first read the 2017 GQ article on which it’s based.

“It seemed like it could be a certain kind of film,” said Lee at the movie’s post-screening Q&A. “But I immediately saw four human beings in this story that could embody so many of my own family and life experiences or seen in the life of my parents.

I saw something so tender and fragile that I haven’t seen so much in the West. And I just felt this drive to create something with this story because I feared what the other version of this story might be.”

Lee’s film is a meditation on loneliness and the meaning of family, all steeped in Vietnamese culture.

With most of the dialogue being in Vietnamese, the story sees an elderly driver-for-hire pick up three passengers who turn out to be dangerous escaped convicts. One of the men, fluent in Vietnamese, develops a bond with the driver, and finds himself caught between his dark makeshift family of on-the-run prisoners and the light of possible redemption offered by a man old enough to be his father.

“Just being surrounded by Vietnamese Americans, telling stories about Vietnamese Americans that are not related to the Vietnam War, and such universal themes that connect everybody together, it’s been a privilege,” said Dustin Nguyen, who plays Tar, the conflicted prisoner.

Nguyen was the only actor on stage to not shed a tear in talking about the work and the importance of the movie.

Hiệp Trần Nghĩa, the 81-year-old actor from France who found himself in his first leading film role, cried. He acknowledged the support of his wife as well as the second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, wishing that everyone could live a life as blessed as his.

The most touching moment came from Phi Vu, who plays a convict torn between following the violent leader of the group and embracing his own heritage and path. Vu recounted how he tried hard to convince his father-in-law, a shrimper in Louisiana, to take him out offshore, so he could understand the man’s life. The father-in-law finally relented and said yes, but then Vu got the callback for the movie …while they were off-shore.

“I told my father-in-law, I said, ‘Hey I gotta go. My wife said, ‘You can’t leave him!’ I’m not trying to leave him!” Vu recounted.

He then took a confessional tone about what this movie meant. “I really had a long journey of recovery from an absence of love, and I think I’m still searching for it. And this, I think is my first step,” he said, breaking down in tears.

Director Lee also talked about his methodical directing style and his particular demands of composition, his close relationship with his director of photography, the 21-day shoot and the challenges of night shoots.

“The challenges we faced were lack of time,” he said. “The sun coming up or the sun coming down.”