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[WHAT'S
COOL: BETTER LUCK TOMORROW]
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| 03/15/01 |
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| BOYS,
BOOPS & BULLETS IN ORANGE COUNTY:
Justin Lin's new explosive teen angst bad-ass epic has it all!
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by Gillian Sand
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| 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. |
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Jason
Tobin, Parry Shen, Roger Fan & Sung Kang in
Justin Lin's "Better Luck Tomorrow"
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"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." |
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| "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." |
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Karen
Cheung plays the romantic interest Stephanie with
Parry Shen who plays Ben
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"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. |
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Justin
Lin, director (Right) with Parry Shen, who plays
Ben, the lead, in "Better Luck Tomorrow"
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"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." |
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Sung
Kang (center) with strippers in "Better Luck
Tomorrow"
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"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. |
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| "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." |
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| 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. |
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Roger
Fan (Left) in "Better Luck Tomorrow"
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"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." |
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| "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." |
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| 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. |
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Parry
Shen (Left) and Jason Tobin (right) who plays
Virgil
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| "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." |
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"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.".jpg) |
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NOSY
FACTS
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about
JUSTIN LIN
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(provided
by his former colleague Quentin Lee)
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| If you're thinking of picking
Justin up at the film festival circuit: |
| • he's happily in love at
the moment... so sorry for the girls out there |
| • doesn't like girls who
wear open toe shoes (a big NO NO) |
| • likes girls who wear jeans
and sweat |
| • likes to eat Chinese food,
especially Taiwanese home cooking |
| • into basketballs and the
Lakers |
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• generally
a down to earth, all rounded nice guy
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