Directed by Justin Lin. 98 minutes.
Starring Parry Shen, Jason Tobin, Sung Kang, Roger Fan, John Cho, and Karin Anna Cheung. Released by Paramount Pictures and MTV Films.
Some might argue that the high school students of Better Luck Tomorrow, the controversial and assured feature film debut of director Justin Lin, are decent kids who happened to get themselves mixed up in some pretty bad situations. I would disagree. I think that the film’s protagonists are, at heart, bad people who, when given the opportunity, behave abhorrently, mostly because they realize that they are crafty and can get away with it. What makes this film so controversial, it has been noted, is that the group of kids in the film are Asian American. They are good students, ambitious, belong to a number of clubs, smart, etc. Some people have complained that the film portrays young Asians in America in a negative light, but then again, aren’t most young Asian characters in movies portrayed as being studious, obedient, and completely motivated- a stereotype? It does not really matter that the film is about Asian students. It is more concerned with the fact that the characters are overachievers and commit their dirty deeds for escapism and because they are not expected to behave in the ways they do. They know they can get away with their actions.
The film will, no doubt, inspire comparisons to the films of Larry Clarke (namely Kids, but also, perhaps, Bully). Those comparisons may likely be justifiable, however; to me Lin’s film bears more in comparison to the works of author Brett Easton Ellis (American Psycho, but more specifically Less Than Zero and The Rules of Attraction, though infinitely better than that last mentioned film). Ben (Parry Shen), Virgil (Jason Tobin), Han (Sung Kang), and Daric (Roger Fan) really should have few worries. They come from wealthy families, they have money at their disposal constantly, they are guaranteed acceptance into nearly any college of their choice because of their good grades, they are athletes, and they live seemingly healthy lifestyles. Realizing that they can score some extra cash (though they hardly seem to need it), the four partake in creating cheat sheets that they will sell to their classmates. They make a fortune and become famous in their high school. Then comes a somewhat uneasy transition. “Naturally, selling drugs came next,” Ben, our narrator tells us. I am not sure if I can necessarily buy this. Why would drugs naturally come next? We take this at face value.
As the boys get deeper and deeper into their illegal activity, the more soulless and conscienceless they become, which leads up to a horrific act in the final scenes of the movie and, unfortunately, a somewhat sudden ending. This can be forgiven, though. Not a perfect movie, Tomorrow manages to keep the eighty percent of its good scenes really good and the twenty percent of scenes that do not work merely somewhat imperfect. Much like the recent Irreversible, however, Lin’s film keeps us somewhat at a distance by not letting us really like or relate to any his characters. But this is interesting material. At points in the film, with the culmination of the steady loss of morality, the voice-over narration, the downfalls, etc., the film feels like a Goodfellas for the high school set.
The movie’s best moments are often quite subtle. The first is when the group, now labeled “The Chinese Mafia,” crash a party that results in a preppy white student getting kicked repeatedly in the head. “I went jihad on his ass,” Virgil brags as they drive away from the party. Moments later, he begins to fret- “I’m going to end up in Juvie.” Seconds pass by and a group of Latino gangbangers pull up next to their car, first giving them harsh stares, and then threatening them with a semi-automatic machine gun. Realizing their stint in gangsterism has been brought about by choice, rather than a method of survival like the car full of boys accosting them, they drive away silently. Another powerful moments occurs when the group heads to Las Vegas for a weekend. A prostitute is brought to their motel and Ben loses his virginity to her. He tells his friends it was “amazing” and tells us, in voice-over, the relief he feels to have gotten the experience over with. Moments later, he does not feel as special when his three friends have had their turn with the prostitute as well.
Better Luck Tomorrow examines the lives of a group of amoral people who, once they realize that they will not be made to suffer for their crimes, decide to adopt a way of life that does not fit in with the straight and narrow. Early moments in the film show them as overachievers. Ben memorizes a new word every day, not because he is interested in learning new words, but to help him with intelligence tests and SAT scores. He fills his head with useless data because he thinks that it will help him get into college. He joins numerous clubs and takes various jobs, not for the experience or for fun, but to add to his resume. His involvement with Darik and the drug dealing, cheating, and, eventually, murder might stupefy some people. Why does he do what he does? Because no one would expect him to and because he can. Lin’s film is, all at once, an imperfect, yet utterly fascinating, and powerful wallop of a movie.