blt
9/17/2003 @ 1:36:14 PM | 1938 days ago | permanent link | posted in movie
The indie flick Better Luck Tomorrow comin out on DVD on 9/30
Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) -
3/5
Was very much hyped as usherin a new era of Asian American cinema because of its Asian director and cast.. I dunno. The movie was quite interesting but if not for the "Chinese" factor, it might have been average at best (how bout below??)
Anyways, it was a kick, had some interesting scenes and moments, it had quite an artsy feel, the way some scenes were shot.. I mean even the music was way indie; but it comes down to story and script, and pacing which could have use a polish. I'm impressed though, I mean stuff looked good so these guys had the techniques down at least.
Pretty good flick with a focus on teenage Asian American, wreckin havok because they probably have too much time on their hands.. the press kept throwing the term over-achievers but it's really just rich kids who don't know what to do with their lives
The movie has a pretty good structure (vocab) and beautiful cinematography.. unfortunately it falls flat on some scenes and loses serious momentum in the latter part of the movie
They kinda botched the promo for mass media (on MTV in particular) but the flick received positive buzz (critical acclaim) in the press and there was a cool grassroot email campaign to get people to watch it. Seeing asian actors in starring roles is definitely cool, the high school treatment made this independent movie very accessible
Solid, I liked it a lot actually. The sunny sights of SoCal (Irvine scenery for real).. Tobin (Virgil) had an amazing scene in the back of a car where he was straight tripping, Kang (Han) was just too cool, finally Daric (Fan) was the master leader for the scams, but the his best scene was at the end when he was scared and uncertain about his future.. for the first time. Ben (Shen) is the lead and he's pretty good, although a lotta people thought his performance was apathetic at best
The end is a bit controversial, cuz the kids or at least Ben gets away with "it", many things are left opened or people view it more like loose ends
Links
- reviews - Better Luck Tomorrow
- http://betterlucktomorrow.com
