michigandaily.com A R T s TUESDAY APRIL 29, 2003 L1 Young director makes 'Better Luck Tomorrow' come alive By Joel M. Hoard Daily Arts Editor MOVIE REVIEW Nolte leads the way n stylish heist flick By Neal Pais Daily Arts Writer M EW Each year, the ubiquitous heist/caper film is a perennial favorite at the box offices; It is usu- ally formulaic and always pre- dictable, attempting to lure audiences with sleek soundtracks, overly complicated hijinks and generic witticisms. However, Neil Jordan's most recent endeavor man- ages to fit itself into the genre with- out deigning to use such cheap selling points. Relying instead on stylish cinematography and real intelligence, "The Good Thief" - a loose adaptation of Jean-Pierre Melville's film noir, "Bob le Flam- beur" - shines as an fiber-chic crime drama. The film's plot is actually quite straightforward: Bob (Nick Nolte) is an American expatriate thief with grandiose plans for his The Good Thief last big score. Living in a At the Michigan Theater seedy district FoxSearchlight of Nice, he is hampered by compulsive gambling and a nasty heroin habit. Hitting rock bottom, he engineers a job with a pay- off large enough to bring him perma- nent salvation. With the help of Anne (Nutsa Kukhianitze),.a cute Russian 6migr6 and Paulo (Said Taghmaoui), his immensely likeable criminal asso- ciate, Bob successfully kicks his dou- ble habit and sets off to fine tune his daring plan. Between gritty addiction scenes and the tender portrayal of Bob and Anne's uniquely platonic rela- tionship, "The Good Thief" car- ries itself with visually stunning shots of the lazy French country- side and interesting biblical allu- sions. The most exciting aspect of the film, though, is Bob's strong friendship with Roger (Tchdky Karyo), the city police chief, Those mugshot jokes never get old. which of course puts an interesting spin on the story. The two men play the familiar game of cat and mouse, yet their relationship is marked by warm affability. Also appealing is the lack of crudeness or excessive violence in the film; rather than over-the-top action sequences, each scene is deeply intimate with its employment of smart humor and actual drama. "The Good Thief" draws most of its 6lan, however, from its individual players. Nutsa Kukhianisze truly stand outs in her debut English per- formance - her physical beauty perfectly juxtaposed with sweetly impish charm. Nolte, is of course, in fineform with his endearingly grav- elly accent and unwavering opti- misim. Audiences wal delight in a brief but engaging cameo by Ralph Fiennes, who plays a ruthless art peddler in the film. Neil Jordan's latest work is perhaps his best since his 1992 hit, "The Cry- ing Game." Eschewing the traditional (non-captivating) elements of crime films, he concentrates instead on the believability of his story. Although becoming relatively fantastic at times, it never sways far from the core of the plot and remains always grounded with one of its appealing characters. "The Good Thief" is certainly one of the brighter, cleverer heist pictu'bs in existence - a masterpiece for which Jordan is sure to reap copious acco- lades. Justin Lin's "Better Luck Tomor- row" makes "Boyz N the Hood" and "Menace It Society" all the more tragic. Where "Boyz" and "Menace" saw desperate South Central Los Angeles youths caught in a cruel cycle of drugs and violence, "Better Luck Tomorrow" sees privileged Orange County teens turning to crime because they have nothing bet- ter to do. With all of the opportunity that Stheir Compton counterparts lacked, Ben, Virgil, Daric and Han, the four Asian-American whiz kids of "Bet- ter Luck Tomorrow," are on the fast track to Ivy League educations and six-figure salaries. Their records are impeccable: perfect GPAs and test scores, loads of extracurriculars and all of the Better Lucki community serv- Tomorrow ice that colleges are looking for. At the State Theater But as Ben MTV Films (Parry Shen) explains in a voice-over, "Our straight A's were our passport to freedom. As long as we got great grades, our parents didn't care where we were." What started inno- cently as standard high school mis- chief soon led to cheating, drug dealing and ultimately murder. Justin Lin composes his cast almost entirely of Asian-Americans, but while there are scattered refer- ence to race - like Daric (Roger Fan) accusing the basketball coach of tokenism when Ben makes the team and the gang being dubbed the "Chinese Mafia" - he never lets race become a focal point. For the most part, Lin's characters are average American teenagers. They take on the typical high school movie roles: there's Ben, the shy kid with a crush on the pretty cheer- leader, Stephanie; Virgil, the wise- cracking smart-ass; Daric, the cool overachiever who's president of all the academic clubs and Han, the hip and mysterious one. The young cast delivers pitch-per- fect performances, creating believ- able American high schoolers - Parry: Shen and Jason J. Tobin in particular. The film opens with Ben and Virgil (Jason J. Tobin) sunbathing on New Year's Day, when they are interrupted by a ringing cell phone - but it's not Ben's or Virgil's. As the boys soon discover, it belongs to the freshly buried body in the backyard. A flash- back covers the events of the four months leading up to that point, chronicling the group's transforma- tion from hardworking students to hardworking student-criminals. With the academic world of high school mastered, the boys engage in some extra-extracurricular activi- ties. They start out with simple credit card fraud and selling cheat sheets, and before long, they're snorting coke, selling drugs and car- rying guns. As much as they'd like everyone to believe it, they're not the hard- ened gangstas from Crenshaw Blvd. You'd never catch Doughboy or 0- Dog crying about going to juvey after beating up a snooty jock. Lin's smart direction and even bet- ter writing allow "Better Luck Tomor- row" to transcend the teen movie genre while avoiding the sort of heavy-handed preaching that usually accompanies youths-gone-wrong sto- ries. If "BLT" is any indicator, Lin will be a force in American filmmak- ing for some time. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow. You're always a day away. -------- - --------- Going yabroad this summer? Leave your contact information with U-M's International Travel Registration website! 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