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Sunday, July 10, 2011

MOVIE REVIEW
A Better Life
A Father's Time, In A Son's Place


José Julián as Luis and Demián Bichir as Carlos in Chris Weitz's drama "A Better Life". Summit
 
by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        FOLLOW
Sunday, July 10, 2011

Chris Weitz's drama "A Better Life" chronicles the intersections in life and aspirations to improve life, in East Los Angeles.  The film is making its way around the U.S. now.

Carlos Galindo (Demián Bichir) is a gardener working in L.A. residences.  An illegal immigrant from south of the border, Carlos works hard for his money, trying to stay afloat and support his teenage son Luis (José Julián) after Carlos's wife left them unexpectedly.  Luis is at a stage where he gives his dad a little sass here and there, but is a nice kid seeking an identity against the backdrop of the gang culture that beckons him. 

Carlos and Luis love each other the way fathers and sons should.  Luis, born in the U.S., is not rebellious as much as he is skeptical of how his dad is will establish himself in a world that has left him behind.  By contrast, often it is said that parents are the biggest killers of a child's dreams, but as a father all Carlos wants is for Luis to have a better future than Carlos has a present: poor, scuffling around society's margins and existing on low wages.  Carlos, who buys a truck to conduct business, is selfless; even when asking his sister for money that he so desperately needs he always thinks of her first.

Gentle and punctuated with Alexandre Desplat's melodic, elegant music score, "A Better Life" displays the shades of gray of everyday life.  The film is greatly augmented by Mr. Bichir's superb, achingly-realized performance, an instant leading contender for Best Actor Oscar honors next February.  Mr. Bichir breathes humanity into Carlos, filling him with compassion, balance and an unwavering moral center.  Mr. Bichir exhibits a naturalism that makes Carlos especially sympathetic when life turns on him.  Through Mr. Bichir's eyes we see and feel life as Carlos lives it, and we feel the tugs of the ups and downs of our own lives.  It's the year's best leading man performance -- palpable, even heartbreaking -- and never stops being so.  Mr. Bichir is so very convincing, just as he was playing Fidel Castro in a small role in Steven Soderbergh's "Che" (2008).

Mr. Weitz also gets good work from José Julián, whose intelligence and keenness are on full display as Luis, whose bravado and commitment to a rite of passage leads him into a continuous high-wire act between his friends and his father, although the push and pull is less strenuous than other films featuring such polarized figures, like "A Bronx Tale".  The role marks Mr. Julián's debut on the big screen.

"A Better Life" captures the tensions of music, cultures, immigrants, generations, neighborhoods, heritage and economics, blending them into an easygoing, enjoyable if sometimes slight drama.  Each of these tensions is a character, and Mr. Weitz offers us glimpses of an outsider's Los Angeles.  There's a montage of a forlorn Carlos being driven through different parts of the L.A. area, including Beverly Hills, where Luis wants a big house.  The scene plays either as puppy-dog Hallmark theater or as Carlos's realization that mowing lawns or trimming trees in more affluent places may be as close as he'll get to living in them.  Throughout, Mr. Bichir's expressions tell the story.  You needn't know or even see the places in the background to know where Carlos is.

Notably, "A Better Life" avoids judgments of its characters, allowing their actions to speak loudly or softly for themselves.  There's as much restraint and decency in "A Better Life" as there is in Carlos, who acts out of necessity, not an inflated sense of pride, to gain a more secure foothold on the American Dream.  The film doesn't go where others routinely do, and I was pleasantly surprised by the maturity and sense of order "A Better Life" maintained all the way through, never trying to bite off more than it could chew.  Mr. Weitz, who starred in "Chuck And Buck" and directed "About A Boy" and "Twilight: New Moon", adds this peaceful after-school-type drama to an eclectic resume.

Discreet and disciplined, "A Better Life" doesn't showcase life, it uncovers life -- the way it is lived on every corner in numerous parts of Los Angeles -- on a tidy, intimate scale.  "A Better Life" joins "The Tree Of Life", "Beginners" and "In A Better World" as fine dramas that examine father-son relationships in varying degrees and how violence or its absence helps shape them.

With: Eddie 'Piolin' Sotelo, Joaquin Cosio, Dolores Heredia, Isabella Rae Thomas, Carlos Linares, Bobby Sota, Nancy Lenehan, Chelsea Rendon, Richard Cabral.

"A Better Life" is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association Of America for some violence, language and brief drug use.  The film's running time is one hour and 38 minutes.

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