"Better Luck Tomorrow"...

I just got back from seeing it and wow... what a great movie! I'm borrowing my friend Steph's computer right now to jot down some thoughts about the movie while it's still fresh in my mind. I can see why the movie has grabbed such critical claim and controvery.

If you haven't seen it yet and don't want anything about the movie to be spoiled... read no further! You have been warned. Go to see the movie; if you love good movies, you'll appreciate "Better Luck Tomorrow" immensely as a good movie first before you appreciate it as an "Asian American movie".

Now go... PLEASE SEE THE MOVIE!

Thanks. =)

.:SPOILERS / RANDOM, UNORGANIZED COMMENTARY:.

-"Better Luck Tomorrow", while featuring primarily an Asian American cast, doesn't dwell explicitly on Asian American issues - the things the movie commentates on are definitely part of Asian American culture, but no where does it explicitly say in the movie "hey, this is stuff us Asian American people deal with being here in America!" Overall, the movie to me was more a commentary on growing up in a highly competitive, achievement-oriented, materialistic culture, violence, (Asian American) male identity on teenagers and the consequences of those conflicting issues.

All teenagers face a coming of age crisis in high school; boiled down to its simplest essence, that's what "Better Luck Tomorrow" is about: growing old and growing up.

-The destruction of the stereotype of Asian Americans as the "model minority"... whoo boy, if this movie gets big, this issue will definitely come up. Shiv definitely noticed this. The movie kicks off with two of the main characters, Ben and Virgil, sitting in a backyard with a (mostly) buried dead body. Most of the movie is told in retrospective flashback of the events that led up to the body being there... that's right... a DEAD BODY.

Asian American families would cringe at the thought that there high school age sons would be mixed up in something criminal, let alone a dead body - during the course of the movie, the main characters in the movie make money off other people cheating at school, get drunk, sell drugs, use drugs, rob houses, hire a prostitute, brawl, and shoot guns. Thuggish behavior, yet in the movie, it's coming from very ordinary teenagers from good, middle class families. Unlike the "Joy Luck Club", where Asian American women were put on a high pedestal as vestal virgins, valiant mothers, and persected martyrs, "Better Luck Tomorrow" is unafraid to paint a cast of realistic characters - the young men in the movie are very human and imperfect characters, whose alienation / personality flaws is the driving force behind the movie.

-Asian American culture / "the American dream" / male identity: To me, the underlying theme of the movie is summed in a conversation by two of the movies characters, Ben and Steve, at a batting cage. The topic is "happiness" and the fact that's so elusive to them - after all, in eyes of both Asian American culture and "the American dream", they should be happy - they come from stable, wealthy families; they go to school and get good grades; they participate in a variety of extra-curricular activities; they're all but assured entrance into a good college... yet they feel hollow, empty, and miserable.

Their lives revolve around achievement and competition... but even excelling in every area of their life has done nothing to give them satisfaction. They're driven to achieve and do well, because Asian American culture emphasizes that people who hardworking and succeed will be happy. But young men have lived that paradigm long enough to know that it's lacking. The characters start committing crimes not out of economic need, but simply for the rush and the thrill of being able to get away with something... their lives feel aimless, and the crime is a way for them to feel empowered, alive. In Christian-ese terms, the characters are acting out of a spiritual bankruptcy, a lack of a dimension to their life beyond what society has deemed "fulfilling".

That's right, in some way, on a smaller, less poetic level... I see "Better Luck Tomorrow" has a lot in common with another favorite movie of mine, "Fight Club".

This conflict is epitomized in the romantic relationship between Ben and Steph. The main character, Ben, gets his good grades, works hard at his job... and still knows something is missing. He tries to improve himself by memorizing a new dictionary word everyday and goes to the park every afternoon to shoot 200 free throws! The beginning of his friendship / romantic interest in Stephanie, is symbolic in a way of the beginning awareness that something is missing in his life and that he wants to find. His pursuit of Stephanie parallels the quest the young men in the movie are on, a quest to find that something else besides what the world has already offered them.

***

Did I mention I got flashbacks to some of my high school years, too? No bodies buried in my backyard... scout's honor.
posted by G at 9:13 PM   |

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33