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Better Luck Tomorrow
Justin Lin, director

On a sunny California afternoon, filmmaker Justin Lin and five up-and-coming hot Asian American actors are shooting the climatic scene for his new independent film "Better Luck Tomorrow" on a UCLA soundstage. The set is a four-walled garage with a single swinging bulb that rivals the intensity of the final cellar scene in "Psycho." After his critically acclaimed feature debut "Shopping for Fangs" (co-directed with Quentin Lee), Justin continues his exploration of the dark side of young (Asian American) males. In "Fangs," it's about twenty-something "Generasian-X" angst. But this time, it's high school.

The high school atmosphere really brings me back to a time when I was finding myself," said Roger Fan, who plays Daric, a popular and high achiever with a dark side, "I mean people were cruel in high school. I wouldn't mind doing college or elementary school again, but I would not do high school again."

"The movie is basically about guys trying to be guys," said Jason Tobin, who plays Virgil, the emotionally volatile best friend of the lead, Ben. "Virgil is someone who's super violent one minute, and feels sad and guilty the next minute. It's funny that in Hollywood, the five of us always audition for the same Asian American male role. It sucks. But this film will really show people how diverse we are. This is the best role that I've ever had the opportunity to play which made me nervous going in but I knew I couldn't hold anything back. It's scary but exciting."

"Better Luck Tomorrow" is certainly not your average Hollywood teen movie. It's dark and edgy, but not without humor. It pushes the characters to the extreme that (without giving away the ending) they commit a crime that would probably haunt them for the rest of their lives. As much as it is a dark psychological drama about four teenage boys who venture to commit a final act of annihilation, it's also a poignant coming of age drama about how these same boys bond and try to find their identity and a place for themselves in their chaotic microcosmic world. It's a difficult and challenging movie to make, treading the thin line between exploitation and enlightenment. It's violent, and yet it also tries to comment on its violence.

The point is to question everything," said Justin Lin, the director, writer and producer, "there are controversial elements, including the ending, because it's vital to open up discourse. There's so much guilt on filmmakers to portray ethnic characters and their stories to be positive, but I choose to stay true to the characters and this film is not apologetic."

"It's also really about the state of Asian American male identity within the context of suburban society," says co-writer and co-producer Ernesto Foronda. who met Justin at UCLA film school during their undergraduate years, "Justin and I are 1.5 generation Asian Americans who grew up in Orange County. It's a story about Asian American high school teenagers growing up in Orange County suburbia, and a lot of it is based on our own experience. Basically, we want to make an Asian American story but one that's not based on its position against the white society. This story stands alone and on its own.

"But filmmaking is so personal," added Ernesto. "We want to make films about what we know and our experiences that shape us to adulthood. The film is also very critical of the Asian male ego, or male ego in general, which in essence is a reaction to how we act when we feel belittled in the society."

Entirely financed by private investments with a budget well under a million, "Better Luck Tomorrow" has 212 scenes, over 100 locations, including actual Las Vegas casino locations, and 7 crowd intensive scenes. It's a five-week shoot spread over Los Angeles and Orange County with a couple of days in Las Vegas.

"It's really an anti-no-budget film," chuckled Justin, knowing well of his shoe-string budget, "And let me tell you, it hasn't been an easy shoot. It's like we're building the road as our car is driving on it. But it's been such a great crew with strong collaboration that there's an unstoppable energy. We would not stop and just keep going, and things fell in place literally the last second."

"It's my first feature as a producer," said co-producer Julie Asato, "and believe it or not, the toughest part has been craft service. We couldn't get anyone to do it, so I have to end up doing most of it. We have no money for P.A.s, so between Ernesto and I, we run around like crazy. The locations are also so hard to get with no money, but we end up pulling through. We also have to come up with quite creative ways to get extras, like we set up this fundraiser for the high school that we shot in. We told all the high school clubs that we'd donate a small fee for each student who showed up to be an extra on the set, and a lot of students showed up."

Besides being a smart and edgy low-budget independent film, "Better Luck Tomorrow" inevitably will elicit the question of audience and market just by virtue that the film features an all Asian-American cast.

I have not been an Asian American advocate," said Parry Shen who plays Ben, the lead in the film, "A lot of Asian American films seem to hit you over the head with their issues being so blatant, but this movie is very different. It doesn't do that at all. And I really think that this movie is the way to go if Asian Americans want to be recognized by the mainstream."

"This movie plays with the myths and addresses them in a smart way," added John Cho, who plays the antagonistic Steve in the film, "I like it because it shows a dark and gruesome side of humanity that we don't usually get the chance to explore."
-Taken from the website IndieRag
Reviewed by Gillian Sand
- Submitted by Jim

Better Luck Tomorrow