Review of A Better Life (2011) by Jonathan B — 13 Apr 2012

Films about immigrants/aliens are always difficult to do well because they have been told so frequently it's easy to fall back on past formulas. In a sense A Better Life does exactly that, as every cinephile would be quick to point out its similarities to Italian classic The Bicycle Thief.

Thankfully, there's enough deviation and some wonderful performances to still make it a trip worth taking. The biggest surprise among 2011's Oscar nominations was the Best Actor nod for Demian Bichir.

I'm not sure I myself would have put it in my top 5 for that year, but there's no question he does a powerful job and contributes a great deal of emotion that will almost break your heart in the end.

It's also welcome to see Chris Weitz return to solid character dramas again, and hopefully he won't return to blase big budget affairs anytime soon. So while A Better Life doesn't break new ground narratively speaking, it's definitely worth checking out for the acting and for shining a light on a real world problem that is in grave need of a better solution.