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A Better Life

post #1 of 3
7/11/11 at 9:44am
Thread Starter 

Wondering if anyone else has seen this. I love the film because of the powerful, heartfelt acting from Damian Bichir, in the lead role of an illegal immigrant gardener trying to raise his teenage son in East LA. Without him, it would basically be a well intentioned but trite and hackneyed must-escape-gang-life movie (by way of The Bicycle Thief). But Bichir singlehandedly saves the whole thing, with a fantastic portrayal of a man who has no power at all. It's a performance that makes you walk away with a renewed appreciation of your rights and privileges as a citizen.

 

I need to check out Bichir's other films- first time I've seen him in anything, definitely won't be the last.

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post #2 of 3
7/11/11 at 11:41am

Bichir's great, and I expect he'll be in a lot of other stuff after this.

 

But this movie was completely on-the-nose. Everything the characters thought was verbalized through trite, well-meaning dialogue. How much does the possible-future-gangbager kid talk about being a gangbanger? How much emphasis needs to be put on the fact that the guy is broke? Not to say this sort of thing doesn't happen, but it feels less organic in the film and more like a liberal screenwriter trying to stack the deck in his downtrodden hero's favor.

 

A decade after American Pie, these Weitz brothers really haven't distinguished themselves, have they? About A Boy seems like the only highlight of the last decade from either of them.

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post #3 of 3
7/11/11 at 2:06pm
Thread Starter 

Yeah, the dialogue was a definite weak point.

 

The poverty angle was a little heavy handed at times, but I can forgive a message movie like this if it goes over the top in showing the grim reality of these invisible people. And taking everything away from him did lead to that scene

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

in prison, where we see that he's reached the end of his tether and will die before giving up his phonecard. Great moment.

 

And this is the second time in a month someone here has said something good for About a Boy. I should probably watch that movie.

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