Review of Better Luck Tomorrow (2003) by Alex M — 12 Jan 2004

[size=3]Justin Lin's directorial debut shows that there is a promising new talent on the rise, but one who has yet to develop a sense of structure or a mature attitude about life. [i]Better Luck Tomorrow [/i]tells the story of four Asian-Americans who are chronic overachievers at school: they get good grades, are involved in many extracurricular activities, and are gearing all their energies toward applying to college. Slowly but surely, the main character, Ben, begins to drift away from his overachieving lifestyle to illegal habits such as drug dealing, robbery and providing cheat sheets. The point of Lin's film, I think, is that many modern-day youngsters are so focused on success that they have lost all sense of morality. This is hardly an original point, and it comes across rather murkily in the movie. Lin seems more concerned with showing his stylistic inventiveness than in developing themes and characters...a common flaw that plagues young directors of the MTV generation. Sometimes this works and results in hauntingly beautiful shots, other times the style of the film obstructs the narrative. The climax of the film is a tad baffling, yet powerful nonetheless, and although [i]Better Luck Tomorrow [/i]is too meandering and unfocused to be a total success, it's sheer unpredictability and the talent of some of the actors (not all) make it worth watching.[/size].

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[size=3](BASIC) [/size].