A Better Life (2011)
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Reviews Counted: 103
Fresh: 87 | Rotten: 16
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 34
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 5
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 11,565
Movie Info
From the director of About a Boy comes A Better Life - a touching, poignant, multi-generational story about a father's love and the lengths a parent will go to give his child the opportunities he never had. -- (C) Summit
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Cast
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Guillaume Canet
Yann -
Leïla Bekhti
Nadine -
Slimane Khettabi
Slimane -
Demian Bichir
Carlos Galindo -
José Julián
Luis Galindo -
Dolores Heredia
Anita -
Joaquín Cosio
Blasco Martinez -
Nancy Lenehan
Mrs. Donnelley -
Tim Griffin
Juvie Officer -
Gabriel Chavarria
Ramon -
Carlos Linares
Santiago -
Trampas Thompson
School Security Officer -
Valorie Hubbard
School Secretary -
Isabella Rae Thomas
Linda -
Robert Anthony Peters
Truck Driver -
Richard Cabral
Marcelo Valdez -
Isabella Balajadia
Bella -
Giselle Nieto
Gigi -
Luis A. Colocio
Ruthie's Uncle -
Ray Moreno
Ruthie's Uncle -
Yelyna de Leon
Ruthie's Mother -
Rolando Molina
Jesus -
Taide Acosta
Young Woman -
Joe Renteria
Bearded Man -
Isidro Vallin
Payaso -
Magi Avila
Shot Girl -
Henry Ambriz
Mexican Singer -
Miguel Alejandro Gaxiola
Voz de Mando Singer -
Jorge Gaxiola
Voz de Mando Singer -
Robert Renderos
Busboy -
Charles Currier
Auto Mart Security Guar... -
Marlon Correa
Prison Guard -
Adrian Mojica
Police Officer -
Todd Felix
Gabe Wettenal -
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Jason Medwin
ICE Officer -
Tom Schanley
ICE Officer -
Abraham Chaidez
Coyote -
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A Better Life Trailer & Photos
All Critics (105) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (87) | Rotten (16) | DVD (2)
The didacticism takes the shine off Weitz's accomplishment, even if the film builds up enough empathy to generate slow-burning emotional impact.
Top CriticBichir delivers a powerful, nuanced performance as a stoic but complex character who treats everyone -- even those who have wronged him -- with a dignity he rarely receives.
The people here seem real, their world is shaky at best, and the political tension that permeates everything in this film feels palpable.
Bichir redeems the secondhand plot and on-the-nose dialogue.
Personalizes the illegal immigrant experience and digs much deeper into what has become a national disgrace.
"A Better Life" might not change any minds about immigration policy, but it illuminates the conversation with context, compassion and understanding.
Well-acted, but quite over-hyped -- a melodramatic Mexican-American version of "Bicycle Thieves."
A Better Life is a half-step removed from the Hallmark Hall of Fame.
A Better Life's sense of place and eye for detail are strong, but the too-smooth style and rushed dramatics are at odds with the hardscrabble existence on display.
[A] gentle, honest, heartfelt film, but [it] does not have much to offer beyond an earnest respect for a segment of American society that is too often derided...
The silver lining is an excellent lead performance from Bichir.
A well deserved Oscar nomination for Demian Bichir in a film with echoes of The Bicycle Thief.
Each sequence plays out in mind-numbingly cliched fashion: father-son lectures, chin-up resilience-especially the final shot-and a stern message about the heartless anti-immigration movement are depicted in an infuriatingly shallow manner.
Director Chris Weitz has done a credible job of bringing Roger Simon's story and Eric Eason's screenplay to cinematic life.
it's far too predictable and mundane to carry my interest through the rest of the film
Although the structure of the film is conventional, the ending of the film is not. Unlike most films, it does have a real hero, Carlos.
A sympathetic tale about an illegal Mexican.
Essentially a variation on Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief, but it has a vitality and resonance all its own.
Modest as A Better Life may be in scope, it commits wholeheartedly to achieving the goal of socially conscious cinema: to make visible the previously unseen.
A movingly simple and simply moving father-son drama set in downtown LA, refreshingly free of pretentious narrative pyrotechnics. Have a hankie up your sleeve and hang your cynicism up at the door.
The sentimental saga of a father and son's stoical struggle against impossible odds.
It's a small, convincing, tightly constructed movie about an urgent, seemingly insoluble problem.
A compassionate, sensitive look at the precarious lives of those off the grid.
It speaks well enough about the fate of immigrants everywhere, especially those who want to work hard but end up being exploited.
Emotionally engaging immigrant drama enlivened by strong performances from its two leads, but it's slightly undone by an overly predictable script that prevents any real surprises.
Bichir carries it all with a measured performance of considerable emotion as the dad, clenched by so many years holding his breath, waiting for the knock at the door.
Audience Reviews for A Better Life
Super Reviewer
http://themoviefreakblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/17/review-a-better-life
Super Reviewer
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- Carlos Galindo: That's why I had you. For me. For a reason to live.
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- Carlos Galindo: This truck is my only chance.
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Movie: ID: 771182967 Title: A Better Life Release Date: 2011-06-24 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 3 Status: 1
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Foreign Titles
- A Better Life (DE)
- A Better Life (CA)
