alicante22

I had heard reasonably good things about this film. I had skim read some reviews, I had seen the score on here (8.2/10 a the time of viewing), I had come across it as I was looking for another book to read after finishing the Silver Linings Playbook. So, it was not an unknown to me, but it was unexpected.

It was a batch of movies that I had acquired with a view to watching a few whilst away on an extended holiday with some friends. It was by no means the first choice to watch, and in reality it was only because my friends girlfriend was watching with us that night that we chose this seemingly (from the title at least) girl friendly movie rather than watching Skyfall. And this is where the surprise was. A film I had only average to good expectations of on putting it on, turned into perhaps the greatest teenage angst, coming of age, funny, poignant love story I have ever come across. I know thats not exactly a HUGE genre I just described, but if you we to just call it a "movie" it would still be up there with my favourite of all time. As it stands, its the best film I've seen in the last 12 months for sure.

We feel for Charlie, his difficult first few days at school, his loneliness, his desperation for human contact that isn't his immediate family. And we feel his joy and happiness as he finds his niche in life and his new friends. But its not all just feelings and emotions, there are some amazingly real laugh out loud moments. If you have memories of your first girlfriend and how that actually came about, then you will love this too. Me and my friend couldn't stop laughing at one point but to tell you what it was would be a spoiler and that would ruin the fun now wouldn't it. But you will know it when it happens and I would imagine that memories will come flooding back about that time in your own life!

All in all, a fantastic film that is required viewing for all. Not one character is perfect, they are all real with faults and blemishes to their personalities and back story (even if they do often talk like middle aged people when they are supposed to be teenagers on occasions).

Do not hesitate. Watch now.

Its hard to imagine living in a world like the one portrayed in A Better Life. But you are brought into it with such ease that you quickly forget that this cycle of work, sleep, work, sleep and provide for your family isn't the norm. You are so brilliantly made part of that world that you fell like Carlos (the father) is one of your own and you feel for his every move.

Carlos is a deeply respectful man. He does things that he believes to the the right way of doing things. And this includes making his entire existence about providing for his 14yr old son, no matter how ungrateful he seems. Perhaps its a sign of my age (mid 30's) that I really felt more of an affinity towards Carlos and his never ending struggle and could see all he hard work and effort go seemingly unappreciated. I really felt his pain and his desire to provide a better life for his son, to give him the opportunities that he never had.

But what brings the film together is when the one life line he has to provide that life for himself and his son is taken from him. I'd like to say it becomes a thriller or an action, because that would be so easy to describe. But far from the far fetched thrillers that normally grace our cinema screens, the need to resolve this situation feels much greater than if this was a Bruce Willis movie for example. The solidarity for the father, Carlos, that has been built up so well in the first half hour of the movie gives you a real understanding for the desperation that he feels when everything seems to be crashed down around him. The frantic, seemingly fruitless, mission to regain what was stolen is felt by the viewer with every step. And where Luis (the son) represents youthful exuberance with is American influences all rolled into one, Carlos is the exact representation of old world values and of south of the border.

All in all a very very entertaining and emotional journey that leaves you with a better understanding of how certain people live and how their lives are a desperate struggle to try and better themselves and the chances that are afforded to their children. The ever present threat of gang land involvement is done tactfully and doesn't encroach on the plot or at any point become stereotyped. It is what it is, an ever present option to Hispanic youth growing up in these types of neighbourhoods.

If you fail to feel a tear in your eye or a lump in your throat at some point during the film, then I'd be surprised. Thoroughly recommended.

I like the film, I gave it a 7, I even use a quote as my signature ("all I wanna do is do it") but I can see that it is not an amazing film, but it does what it says on the tin: its a Harry Enfield comedy - so its a puerile, toilet humour driven extended comic sketch. But it does have an awesome soundtrack, and does chronicle, in a comical way, the rights of passage for a British teenager from the late 90's and the traditional image of holiday with your parents in THE place to be at the time - ibiza.

I was a teenager in the 90's, I loved and still love dance music, I went to ibiza many times and now even live here, and I, like millions of other brits at the time, was a fan of Harry Enfields comedy. So for those reasons, this was more than a reasonable evenings entertainment. If you are looking for a masterpiece of comedy, then Anchorman is a good place to start, so too is The Office. Don't look in the direction of this film unless you know what you are going to get in advance - Lowest common denominator humour that pulls no punches and loves what it is. Enjoy!