A Sundance success story

Every January in Park City, Utah, the renowned Sundance Film Festival

launches the careers of new filmmakers that hopefully will revitalize

what is often a stagnant industry. Every year many films come out of

the festival amid a swarm of hype, every year most of them

disappoint. A handful of these hyped films, however, live up to their

reputation, and Justin Lin’s “Better Luck Tomorrow” is one of those

films -- a bold, refreshing and electric feature debut that boasts

sophisticated characters and an intriguing story that keeps you

guessing at every turn. It’s no small feat to make a plot both

unpredictable and organic; many an independent film has had shocking

twists that surprise but also make absolutely no sense within the

context of their own plot.

Jump starting from the first frame, “Better Luck Tomorrow” focuses

on Ben Manibag (Parry Shen), a somewhat shy but secure overachiever

-- the kind of guy who blends in well -- liked by everyone but known

by few. In typical high school fashion, Ben quietly pines for the

unattainable Stephanie Vandergosh (Karin Anna Cheung), who is already

spoken for by a wealthy student at another local campus, Steve (John

Cho). Sounds like your typical high school flick? Guess again, the

comparisons end there.

Ben and his friends Virgil and Han (Jason J. Tobin and Sung Kang)

soon fall under the influence of Daric (Roger Fan), the mastermind

behind a scam that involves stealing tests a few days before they’re

taken, having Ben provide the answers, then sells them for $50 a pop.

The great irony is that these guys are at the top of their class,

all active in clubs and sports -- anything and everything that will

make their college applications as attractive to the Ivy Leagues as

possible. They don’t scam out of desperation, they scan out of the

boredom with their comfortable suburban lives. Daric sells the boys

on his theory of entitlement -- they can do whatever they want as

long as they get the grades. Their parents won’t stop them and one of

the many subtle touches is that we never see a single parent during

the film. Here, “Better Luck Tomorrow” evolves into a moral black

hole. Exam scams give way to drug deals, guns and violence -- they

soon become drunk on the growing power they wield. They’re earning a

reputation. People stop looking Ben in the eye, something he can’t

help but enjoy -- their fear. His tight-knit clan flies out of

control like a car speeding down hill with no brakes, with a brick

wall waiting at the bottom. At first they’re play-acting tough guy

roles, but eventually they tap into their darker impulses and realize

they’re not acting anymore. Soon it’s Ben who can’t look himself in

the eye out of fear of who he’ll see looking back. And the initial

love-triangle becomes the catalyst behind their complete moral

destruction.

Lin has fashioned a visually rich, intensely paced movie that asks

a lot of uncomfortable questions, but doesn’t condescend to answer

them. Several scenes play with time, cleverly unfolding events out of

order for maximum impact a la “Pulp Fiction.”

Lin and co-writer Ernesto Foronda take the cliches of the genre

and reinvent them with their own style. They toy with audience

expectation and then surprise with an effective twist. For example,

when Ben and Stephanie dance to the slow song at their prom, it has a

been-there-done-that quality, but when the song segues into a

relentlessly loud dance beat and Ben and Stephanie continue to gaze

into each others’ eyes, unaware of the explosive crowd going wild

around them, you are caught off guard the emotion of the moment and

energized by the fresh, surprising turn the scene has taken.

The only criticism “Better Luck Tomorrow” has weathered is in

regards to its final act. Some have felt it goes too far, turning the

movie into a parody of itself. I felt the ending worked and remained

honest to everything that built up to it.

* ALLEN MacDONALD, 29, is working toward his master’s in

screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

‘A Mighty Wind’ breath of fresh air

A woman plays an autoharp, and sings from her heart about the

range of emotions that catheters stir within her. “A Mighty Wind” is

full of classic moments like this one and is the kind of movie that

will get funnier every time you watch it. The comedy is clever, well

executed and very low key. The unpredictable nature of improv makes

the movie’s characters impossible to second guess. It’s comedy for

people that like to think.

The movie is about the reunion of three legendary folk bands as

they prepare to play a live concert on public television. It follows

the mockumentary format used to create “This is Spinal Tap,” “Best in

Show” and “Waiting for Guffman.” The cast is stocked with familiar

faces from these films.

“Spinal Tap” members Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael

McKean are reunited as the Folksmen, a group vaguely resembling the

Kingston Trio. The Folksmen sometimes had problems with record

distribution. Their vinyl LPs didn’t have holes drilled in the center

of the record. This made their records difficult to play.

Fred Willard manages the New Main Street Singers, a kind of New

Christy Minstrels type of group lead by Jane Lynch and John Michael

Higgins. Lynch played the overly-competitive poodle trainer in “Best

in Show.” Her new character follows a religion with a color deity who

exists only within her mind.

The headliners are the romantic duo Mitch and Mickey played by

Second City Television alumni Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara. Levy

is also known for playing Jim’s Dad in the “American Pie” movies. He

and O’Hara just get funnier every time they work together.

In “A Mighty Wind,” Levy plays a heavily medicated

singer/songwriter who’s having difficulty coping with reality in

general. O’Hara is his ex-wife and former partner on stage.

My only complaint about “A Mighty Wind” is that I felt cheated at

the end of 90 minutes. This movie has so many characters with such

interesting stories that it should have been longer. The musical

parodies like, “There’s a Kiss at the End of the Rainbow,” are

brilliant, but we don’t really see enough of the principle characters

to be able to laugh at their stereotypes. We don’t get to know the

human frailties of the characters other than Levy and O’Hara. Because

we don’t get to know the characters as well as we should, “A Mighty

Wind” doesn’t reach the level of hilarity of “Best in Show.”

“A Mighty Wind” looks like it will be a short-run new release, so

if you want to see this one on a big screen you should probably try

to do it relatively soon. The big market for this movie will be when

it hits DVD, which is sure to be loaded with extras.

* JIM ERWIN, 40, is a technical writer and computer trainer.