Review of Better Luck Tomorrow (2003) by Mike K — 04 Dec 2008

Justin Lin's little masterpiece is a simple foray into yet an untapped racial genre, that of Asian Americans. Parry Shen plays the balanced one, Ben Manibag, the one we Asians would love to associate with. Ben is surrounded with over the top delinquents and we somewhat initially feel good that Ben is untainted and quite more humane, even though he does participate in the group's crime-spree escapades. However, his obsession with Stephanie (Karin Ana Cheung) clouds his reasoning as he delves into his "gang" as a respite from his inability to win her love.

Stephanie's boyfriend posed as a the conflicting character that finally rips apart our good old boy Ben as he is torn with being a good person, but hopelessly in love with Stephanie. The beating was a real shocker and didn't seem to fall in line with Ben's character, which is my only peeve about the movie...the movie then just slowly digest into some melancholic musings and somehow the ending seem unfinished, unpolished, unresolved, and quite unimpressive...there was no resolution of conflict...we are shown Stephanie's revelation yet we are still all unsure if the two can ever be together because of what Ben did...

Virgil (Jason Tobin) is great...we can all seem to associate that weird Asian buddy of ours with Virgil...this movie is way heads above any Asian American movie including The Debut (Gene Cagayon's own teenage angst experiment) and American Adobo.

Better Luck Tomorrow is a nicely done movie and I would heartily recommend it not just to Asian Americans, but to everyone tired of the crass and boring Tarentino-variety shockers and violent smash and bang bang thrillers. Justin Lin created a rare gem and something as Asians should all aspire, an original work of cinematic art without the sugar coat and culture-centric approach. Well done indeed.