It takes time for Chris Weitz’s A Better Life [2011] to show its brilliance, and in hindsight, perhaps it needs that slow uncoiling. In the film, Demian Bichir plays a Mexican illegal alien who works as a gardener in Los Angeles. Of course, he dreams of the titular “better life” — with the proper papers — with his teenage son who has forgotten all about his roots, and cannot even speak Spanish anymore. The son lingers on the borders of trouble — restlessness in school and the lure of Latino gangs abound — and the father lingers on the idea of buying a truck for himself, just so he can have better commissions, which can be a ticket to a better neighborhood and a better school for his son. So far, the initial story strikes anyone as The Help + The Pursuit of Happyness, with Latinos. And then something “wonderful” happens. The truck, which he eventually buys, gets stolen, and we are suddenly in a dramatic arc reminiscent of Vittorio De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief. This is where Bichir finally shows us why he deserves that current Oscar nomination for Best Actor. His commanding restraint keeps the film from becoming hysterical and melodramatic, and you see so much power in the way he essays his character’s dilemmas in choice acting chops. This film is a surprise from Chris Weitz. It’s not wholly original, and one can easily write this off as Cinema of White Guilt, but the film is true to its story and we come to genuinely care for the characters, especially the son [played by Jose Julian] who also undergoes a transformation of sorts. It’s a small masterpiece of a film.
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It takes time for Chris Weitz’s A Better Life [2011] to show its brilliance, and in hindsight, perhaps it needs that slow uncoiling. In the film, Demian Bichir plays a Mexican illegal alien who works as a gardener in Los Angeles. Of course, he dreams of the titular “better life” — with the proper papers — with his teenage son who has forgotten all about his roots, and cannot even speak Spanish anymore. The son lingers on the borders of trouble — restlessness in school and the lure of Latino gangs abound — and the father lingers on the idea of buying a truck for himself, just so he can have better commissions, which can be a ticket to a better neighborhood and a better school for his son. So far, the initial story strikes anyone as The Help + The Pursuit of Happyness, with Latinos. And then something “wonderful” happens. The truck, which he eventually buys, gets stolen, and we are suddenly in a dramatic arc reminiscent of Vittorio De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief. This is where Bichir finally shows us why he deserves that current Oscar nomination for Best Actor. His commanding restraint keeps the film from becoming hysterical and melodramatic, and you see so much power in the way he essays his character’s dilemmas in choice acting chops. This film is a surprise from Chris Weitz. It’s not wholly original, and one can easily write this off as Cinema of White Guilt, but the film is true to its story and we come to genuinely care for the characters, especially the son [played by Jose Julian] who also undergoes a transformation of sorts. It’s a small masterpiece of a film.