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A Paramount release. Written by Justin Lin, Ernesto Foronda & Fabian Marquez; directed by Justin Lin; starring Parry Shen and Karin Anna Cheung. Released to DVD on September 30, 2003. 
When writer/director Justin Lin’s first feature, Better Luck Tomorrow played at the Sundance Film Festival, it caused quite a stir. The reason for this was simple: Better Luck Tomorrow’s Asian high school leads were doing decidedly unstereotypically Asian things like selling drugs, starting fights and, gulp, even helping others cheat on tests. Ignored in the subsequent racially based fuss was the fact that Lin’s debut is a great project with flair and style that penetrate each and every scene. The plot of Better Luck Tomorrow is strangely generic in its scope; the question at the heart of the movie is: to what lengths will you go to gain popularity? Lin’s film diverges from the majority of other teen-centered movies because of the intense investigation that the effects the group’s new found popularity begins to have upon them. With the new found popularity thanks to their experimenting with and selling drugs, the four friends soon become involved with more serious crimes like assault, burglary and ultimately murder (since selling drugs is a gateway crime, you know). Better Luck Tomorrow is made, not with the unusual portrayal of teens or the black humor in the film–the movie opens with two teenagers digging up a corpse to get the cell phone they’ve accidentally buried with the body–but Lin’s gracefully stylish point-of-view. Made for an ungodly low sum of money, well under a million dollars, it’s surprising that Lin chooses to implement so many tricky camera maneuvers in so many different shooting locations. At one point in time there is a dazzling tracking shot from the inside of a car down a gangway and to the backyard of a house with a party fully underway. But the effect that his cinematic choices have on the material is electric. The already interesting action is heightened immeasurably by Lin’s choice of angles and decision to let scenes play out in one take. This was a brilliant technical and artistic debut for Lin.
chris neumer yes, it's true: Co-star John Cho is the guy who relieves himself on Steve Stifler’s head in American Pie 2. |
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