A Better Life

Rating: 8
Genre: Adult Drama
Starring: Damien Bichier, Jose Julian

This movie is a winner. It's gotten zero publicity and probably won't score big at the box office. I attended without great expectations and was pleasantly surprised. It revolves around a hard-working, undocumented Mexican gardener. His wife has left him with a teen-aged son who doesn't appear at all impressed with the fact that his father lives solely to provide him with a better life.

But often bad things happen to good people. He borrows money from his sister to buy a truck from his retiring boss, and it is stolen. Relations with his son improve as they work together in an effort to recover the truck. You will root for the two of them. I won't reveal the ending, except to say the movie is filled with drama and pathos, and it will probably grab and hold your attention as it did mind. Bichier, an actor I've not seen before, does a believable job in the lead role. The only negative is that I had some trouble picking up the dialogue.

(NOTE: the editor of Matineeidle thoroughly enjoyed this thought-provoking and touching film.)