Another tertiary character is Steve, played by familiar face John Cho, who was kind enough to immortalize the expression “MILF” in the original “American Pie.” In a movie packed with affluence and privilege, he is even richer than everyone else, attends a private school, has a car and motorcycle, and is Stephanie’s boyfriend. (Steve? Stephanie? Hmmm.) A mixture of staring self-confidence and low-voiced insecurity, he is even more ambigious than Stephanie, and when he observes Ben’s infatuation with her, he encourages Ben to take her on a date. We’re never sure why.
We’re never sure about a lot of things in “Better Luck Tomorrow.” Virgil claims to have seem Stephanie in a porno but we’re never sure. A comment is made that Daric lives by himself, without parents, but it’s never followed up. Stephanie and Steve pop up to let Ben glimpse their romantic troubles but we never know the full story. Some viewers may mistake this for unfocused storytelling and murky motivations. I defend the movie, and not just because it has the kind of high-power visceral direction that keeps things moving too fast for us to notice. “Better Luck Tomorrow” is told from Ben’s point-of-view, which sees much but understands little. Being so focused on scholastic pursuits, Ben simply lacks the facilities to comprehend any of these things. I loved the way the world of “Better Luck Tomorrow” seemed to be swirling around him and he didn’t seem to notice. This is why Stephanie’s final look is so loaded and intriguing, and why the uncertain expression on Ben’s face suggests he may be thinking the same thing.
Oh yeah, did I mention all the important characters are Asian-American? “Better Luck Tomorrow” stirred up some trouble during its very successful run at the Sundance Film Festival (it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for Best Drama), and its director/co-writer Justin Lin was called upon more than once to come to its aid. Of race in movies, I will only say that it’s a shame that when a white guy plays a role, he’s just a guy. But if someone’s part of a different ethnic group, he’s often burdened with the unnecessary responsibility of representing that entire group, and his mere presence seems to demand that the story is required to be “ethnic.”
Lin’s solo directorial debut (he co-directed “Shopping for Fangs”) is an aggressive mix of cinematic trickery and actor-oriented long-takes. “Better Luck Tomorrow” has its share of quick edits, sped-up motion, and self-conscious camera movements. But it also contains several three- and four-minute shots, in which the quietly-superb cast is allowed to do its thing uninterrupted. That “Better Luck Tomorrow” is so geared toward acting and writing may come as a surprise when we see the “MTV Productions” logo tacked onto the beginning. MTV Productions sure has a lot of things to be ashamed about—like, for instance, MTV—but, like its past Oscar-nominee “Election,” “Better Luck Tomorrow” has a genuine feel to it, with children who go to school without looking like magazine models, who wear sloppy clothes, and who actually do homework.
My only complaint about “Better Luck Tomorrow” is actually more of a half-complaint: does it really need the drugs and the guns? Certainly the movie as it stands is very, very good, and it handles these elements well. The movie’s first act, before the boys get into serious crime, is its best, and the subsequent acts are thematically consistent with the first act’s look at amoral ambition. But couldn’t an equally good, if not better movie be made with the same actors playing virtually the same characters, without the elements which (I hope) are hyperbole?
Even though there are no parents in “Better Luck Tomorrow,” the movie could be a warning to soccer moms and other overbearing parents who raise their offspring in an atmosphere of future-oriented dread; who shuttle their children from school to baseball practice to music lessons and then home to bed without an instant to spare; who seek to rob their children of a childhood in the name of “doing what’s best for them.” There’s an old adage that nothing is fun when you have to go to school for it, and certainly too much in “Better Luck Tomorrow” has been gobbled up by college applications. George Carlin once remarked that today’s children need to be made to daydream for one hour a day, free from all other responsibilities. Maybe that’s a good idea. Or maybe we would just form competitive daydream teams.
Finished October 23, 2003
Copyright © 2003 Friday & Saturday Night
Page one of "Better Luck Tomorrow." Back to home.