MTV Films Present: Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)

Justin Lin's well-received 2002 independent feature, Better Luck Tomorrow, is a strangely appealing story of the mysterious, somehow inexorable drift of an ultra-conscientious, Southern California high school senior, Ben (Parry Shen), toward a fateful interlude with crime. Though highly focused on impressing colleges with his thoughtful balance of excellent grades, energized volunteer work (as a translator), and varsity sports (warming the bench during basketball games), something about Ben appears to be unraveling. Perhaps it is an attraction to his out-of-reach lab partner (Karin Anna Cheung), or his growing attachment to hard cash, or simply the malaise that coats his every act of self-denial. In any case, he and a brood of fellow Asian American overachievers metamorphose into the local go-to gang of black-market thievery--all while keeping up their classes. Lin brings a fresh angle to the exhausted youth-crime genre, and clarifies, with no small wisdom, the distinction between building a future and living one's destiny. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

Loved the movie - Didn't understand the ending

Loved the plot, the acting was decent and soundtrack was pleasing as well. But I wish someone could explain how the ending was possible, taking the intro of the movie into account. Maybe I missed something. January 26, 2008

This is refreshing.

After decades of being type-casted by other films, its refreshing to see Asian American kids just doing normal American stuff. Lets leave all the stereo-types behind. August 9, 2007

A microcosm deserves to be seen, with moral issues of certain school behaviors

BETTER LUCK TOMORROW (2002) is a remarkable independent film, highly
realistic and original in the story that it tells. It brings forth,
as well, multicultural aspects as it has viewers mulling over that
and other moral and faith implications and foundations important to
each person. These too often are not taught, are forgotten or
dismissed as a pointless "overhead" needing eliminatation in the
final "profit analysis " in many people's lives.

Although the events occur in high school, the audience will surely
empathize with quite a bit of the storym as youngters build and
solify their character during those school years, from taking on new
life experiences.

In this tale, just as food cooks faster in a pressure cooker, and so
do the characters in this movie, aging faster than otherwise, by
taking on a large number of obligations, activities and social
interactions, beyond what many students do. The protagonists are
extraordinarily self-aware of what is needed in landing a
scholarship in the most expensive, brand name US universities, thus
ambitious objectives, in terms of a resume-building, such as
volunteerism, exam results, sports team membership, work experience.

A handful of school colleagues become friends, and thru exterior
influence, adopt small time scams, evolving to bigger ones, for
monetary profit, egomaniacal reasons (social status, self-worth) and
for the challenge. Examples shown include exam cheating, shoplifting
and simulating a return of merchandise, narco-trafficking, outright
theft of goods from their own school, etc.

A number of parallel issues, not edited out, are raised such as the
discomfort of affirmative action among those who are minorities who
obtained their jobs by merit. Another is the ghetto aspect to this
group of friends, all Asian yet all fully immersed in American
culture, well adjusted.

The flaw of this work, is that the moral aspects are brought out
into the open, in a clumsy, very vague, generalized manner, without
any familiarized notion of any organized existing religion or life
philosophy, irrealistically. The confusion, hesitance, remorse, pain
and self-doubt shown by the lead character, from a murder, sexual
excesses, simulated burglary, participation in the scams perhaps
could have been clarified, assisted by popular faiths. All students
are shown as atheistic or totally clueless about this, which seems
implausible, even unrealistic.

The picture is filmed with talent, very well edited, until the
cadence of action seems to flounder at the 75 minute mark, in the
plateau of the events, preparing the public for a relatively short
ending sequence. There's a sharp, clear DVD transfer, not quite a
widescreen. The soundtrack is original, and skillfully couples
various musical selections with the proper moods.

Undoubtedly, this work deserves to be seen, for the microcosm that
is laid out bare on screen, with events entirely realistic, and from
the action that maintains viewers attentions throughout as well as
from the aspects already mentioned (moral, multicultural) if not the
natural charisma of the actors. June 30, 2007

Interesting Flick

Better Luck Tomorrow is an unusual little movie in that it is both a creation of Asian Americans and, most significantly, a film with Asian male characters who are not martial arts experts. In fact, it does not appear that any of the characters in this production are into martial arts at all.

The main characters are a group of Asian American students in Orange County who are generally academic standouts. After a fight with a white football jock who took exception to an Asian American tennis player wearing a letterman's jacket, the tennis player becomes studly in the eyes of the other students. The other Asian American male youths see adopting a violent pose as being the ticket to respect. Even so, they still must pay attention to their grades and the upcoming SAT's. Also, they are still unable to score any dates.

This latter point leads us to the true context that this movie needs to be seen in. Young Asian American males find it difficult to get dates. Many Asian American females seem to prefer white guys so much so that for every 1,000 married Asian American women, there are only 860 married Asian American males. Meanwhile, females of other racial groups seem to have little to no interest in Asian American male youth. Hence a great deal of frustration among many young Asian American males who cannot get dates.

This is a most interesting movie that hopefully presages more movies down the line pertaining to the Asian American experience that are made by Asian Americans. February 21, 2007

A breakthrough for Asian American cinema.

Like many of you who have read the on-line reviews, "Better Luck Tomorrow" is a breakthrough film for Asian Americans. This is the film that helped put Justin Lin on the map, and I loved it for its respect in showing the pressures of high school life in the United States from the Asian American perspective. It is a groundbreaking film with a well-written script, and I commend it for the strong performances of its lead actors Parry Shen, Karin Anna Cheung, John Cho, and Sung Kang.

"Better Luck Tomorrow" is the first full-on Asian American feature film I have ever seen. Just imagine how I must have felt after years of watching my people portrayed as 1-dimensional stereotypical caricatures on screen for us to finally see a film that accurately portrays Asian Americans. Lin, arguably, understands the Asian American ethos better than any other Hollywood filmmaker out there. He's still a rising filmmaker in Hollywood who is making a name for himself in an extremely racist industry; I hope that in a few years, there will be more films by Lin and many other Asian American filmmakers that dispel a lot of the negative stereotypes perpetuated upon Asian Americans by mainstream American society for the past 150 years.

Most other Asian American filmmakers never got a shot at the brass ring, and I am sorry to hear that, but Lin did through his chance meeting with M.C. Hammer, who was impressed by the well-written quality of Lin's script for "Better Luck Tomorrow." This came at a time when Lin had no funding left for his independent film production company and was on the verge of shutting down. It was M.C. Hammer who helped fund Lin's film ($250,000 to produce "Better Luck Tomorrow"), and helped arrange Lin to meet with MTV executives to promote and distribute it through Paramount Pictures Studios. The only "luck" involved throughout the film's funding, production, and distribution was in its title. Lin put his heart and creative energy into this film like the way John G. Avildsen did with the original "Rocky."

I want Justin Lin to succeed in Hollywood, and his success allows more doors to be opened for Asian American filmmakers and Asian American actors who want to work in Hollywood. Lin got his foot in the gate, and he's prying it open. He has clearly shown to the American mainstream that Asian Americans can be portrayed as all-around human beings who can love, hate, think, feel like everyone else. At this point, Asian American filmmakers are still trying to find "a voice" in the Hollywood community. It's still in the "trials and tribulations" stage, and they have to take the lumps with the praises. We have to work with what we've got until that day arrives. It is good to know that we were able to establish that first breakthrough with "Better Luck Tomorrow."

As for martial arts, leave those films to Chuck Norris...

January 14, 2007

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