I watched this film because I recently interviewed Parry Shen, its star, who now plays Brad on General Hospital.
Better Luck Tomorrow is a film that probably doesn't speak very well to my generation, who are quite removed from what went on in the movie.
It's the story of Asian-American teens from affluent homes and apparently no supervision. They are what we used to call "brains" -- highly intelligent and ambitious, all concerned with getting into a top college. Everything they do -- all their volunteering, sports, after-school jobs, is geared toward having things to put on their application. High grades, Ben (Shen) the narrator points out, are no longer enough.
Ben is interviewed about affirmative action for the school newspaper by Daric (Roger Fan) and after that, Daric offers him a job writing cheat sheets for more money than he's making at the fast food place where he works. The guys -- Ben, Virgil, and Han -- steal for the fun of it, to take some pressure off of their studies, but then move on to doing drugs and selling drugs.
Ben falls for Stephanie (Karin Anna Cheung) who is the girlfriend of Steve (John Cho) who doesn't seem to treat her all that well; he doesn't like school functions so he asks Ben to take her to the formal dance. Steve approaches the gang with a burglary job, which plummets them even further downward.
I was never someone who was under the gun to get good grades; my family never put any pressure on me in that way. My emphasis was on creativity. But I can understand the tremendous stress these kids were under to be successful and their desire to blow off steam. Unfortunately, they had no supervision and no moral code. Out of control teenage hormones and rage are the result, particularly from Ben, who has held in his feelings all along.
Directed by Justin Lin, I liked the focus on Asian-Americans in the film as I think sometimes different ethnicities have trouble being cast as they should, and it's rare to have a film like this. Justin Lin does a good job of directing, speeding and slowing down the film, and giving us an ambiguous ending. I wasn't crazy about that -- yes, I'm one of those old-fashioned types that likes things tied up. The ending left me totally up in the air.
Doing the ending as he did, Lin seems to be talking about morality, guilt, non-guilt, non-justice, and the plight of teens today who don't have to answer for their actions. Maybe we just let life take care of what happens to them. Or maybe, like Crimes & Misdemeanors, nothing happens to change their life trajectory at all.
Better Luck Tomorrow is a film that probably doesn't speak very well to my generation, who are quite removed from what went on in the movie.
It's the story of Asian-American teens from affluent homes and apparently no supervision. They are what we used to call "brains" -- highly intelligent and ambitious, all concerned with getting into a top college. Everything they do -- all their volunteering, sports, after-school jobs, is geared toward having things to put on their application. High grades, Ben (Shen) the narrator points out, are no longer enough.
Ben is interviewed about affirmative action for the school newspaper by Daric (Roger Fan) and after that, Daric offers him a job writing cheat sheets for more money than he's making at the fast food place where he works. The guys -- Ben, Virgil, and Han -- steal for the fun of it, to take some pressure off of their studies, but then move on to doing drugs and selling drugs.
Ben falls for Stephanie (Karin Anna Cheung) who is the girlfriend of Steve (John Cho) who doesn't seem to treat her all that well; he doesn't like school functions so he asks Ben to take her to the formal dance. Steve approaches the gang with a burglary job, which plummets them even further downward.
I was never someone who was under the gun to get good grades; my family never put any pressure on me in that way. My emphasis was on creativity. But I can understand the tremendous stress these kids were under to be successful and their desire to blow off steam. Unfortunately, they had no supervision and no moral code. Out of control teenage hormones and rage are the result, particularly from Ben, who has held in his feelings all along.
Directed by Justin Lin, I liked the focus on Asian-Americans in the film as I think sometimes different ethnicities have trouble being cast as they should, and it's rare to have a film like this. Justin Lin does a good job of directing, speeding and slowing down the film, and giving us an ambiguous ending. I wasn't crazy about that -- yes, I'm one of those old-fashioned types that likes things tied up. The ending left me totally up in the air.
Doing the ending as he did, Lin seems to be talking about morality, guilt, non-guilt, non-justice, and the plight of teens today who don't have to answer for their actions. Maybe we just let life take care of what happens to them. Or maybe, like Crimes & Misdemeanors, nothing happens to change their life trajectory at all.