Sarentrol Masterful Cinema

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

poe426 I was genuinely surprised by the director's savvy: BETTER LUCK TOMORROW is about as impressive as it gets. Not to take anything away from the players (who, to a man, are excellent), but the cinemaskill here is top of the line. At no point in the proceedings did I opt to nod off or to check my watch or hit pause and go stretch my legs: I was too caught up in what was going on on screen. I'm sure it could be argued that the ending was telegraphed (especially when one takes into account the opening scene), but it seemed, somehow, to catch me completely by surprise. My favorite line comes when someone observes that "all of the Asian kids" are at the pivotal party. "The library was closed," one of the leads responds. Superb job all around.

Steve Flickseer From reading reviews and hearing about this movie from friends, I was not expecting to like this movie as much as I did. Hyping this movie as a rare "Asian American" gem obscures the fact that this is simply a well-done film by any measure. I am a bit in shock at seeing how many reviewers here accuse the film of being false and not painting "true" or "believable" characters. While perhaps there could have been more back story for each character, I don't think this was necessary (but then I am speaking from the perspective of someone who grew up in So Cal and therefore feel a little like I "know these guys").Lim's directing is first-rate. Tarantino may have popularized the device of telling a story out of order and letting the viewer put the pieces together --- but Lim employs it with a restraint that makes Tarantino's films look almost gimmicky by comparison.

zippy g So for the most part I really liked this movie. I thought it showed great potential from the director and cast. Strange that after three years most of them have been in limbo career- wise. However, my comments lay more in the major turning point of the film rather than the whereabouts of the filmmakers. The one problem I had with the story is when Ben kills Steve. How the hell do you set up a character that you're supposed to have sympathy for and then have him do something as horrific as that. Especially in the brutal manner in which it was done. And for what! A girl...that he kinda liked...and that kinda liked him...and maybe they kissed. Maybe I'm missing something, but after that I could care less about what happened to Ben. I wanted to care more, but what the hell, now I can't see him as a likable guy anymore. You can't root for someone you don't like at least on some level. Other then that I liked what I saw. There's a lot of budding talent here: Sung Kang, Jason Tobin, and John Cho are among the ones that stood out for me personally, and overall I really liked the way Justin Lin pulled off the film.

lkuok Justin Lin does a great job in displaying Asian Americans in a light that reveals that Asian Americans are no different than your average Caucasian Americans. Although it somewhat reconstructs the model minority image, it deconstructs the image that Asian Americans also participate in similar activities than their Caucasian neighbors would participate in if they had similar social milieus - that is, gang-like activities. I think Lin had something going, and towards the end, the movie lost some of its initial attraction. I think the movie could've stayed in the same direction that it was starting on, that of the SAT cramming and the trouble that they brought as well. Parry Shen does a great job as does John Cho.