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Considering Director Justin LinDirector Justin Lin Broke In With Better Luck TomorrowJustin Lin burst onto the film scene with Better Luck Tomorrow, but hasn't been able to replicate the quality of that film for the remainder of his career.
Considering Justin LinWriter-Director Justin Lin made a name for himself in the film community with Better Luck Tomorrow, a confident and stylish film that established Lin as a talent to be watched. But where has Lin gone since then? Well…nowhere remarkable. Better Luck TomorrowThis feature, about Asian high school gangsters who traded off society’s conception of them as the model-minority, made Justin Lin a respected name in critical circles. The film earned an 80% rating on critic meter rottentomatoes.com, and was hailed by the New York Times as a, “shrewdly tense piece of storytelling”, and by Roger Ebert as a, “skillfully told parable”. Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers called Lin, “A talent to watch,” The film was selected for the Sundance Film Festival and eventually given a moderate theatrical release. AnnapolisLin’s next theatrical release, Annapolis, likely had a far higher budget than Tomorrow, but certainly had a lower artistic merit. The film registered a 10% rating on RT, with some critics despairing over Lin’s wasted talent. Robert Abele of the L.A. Times commented, “Better luck tomorrow, indeed, as Lin seems AWOL in his studio debut, giving in to every moldy turn of Dave Collard's script,” It seemed Lin hadn’t found a worthy successor to Tomorrow, a theme that has continued throughout his career. Finishing the Game and Tokyo Drift Lin went on to direct Finishing the Game: The Search for a New Bruce Lee, a mockumentary on Asian typecasting that didn't make a dent critically or theatrically. In 2006 he also released The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, a fairly succesful at the box office straightforward commercial street racing picture. Where to for Lin? While Tomorrow had style, it also had brains, and a worthwhile social message. Lin has since delivered a cliché-riddled boxing drama, a poorly received mockumentary, and a modestly successful studio car racing picture. Will audiences ever see another Lin film that combined style with meaning? That functioned effectively as a whole, not just sporadically, as was sometimes commented of Annapolis and Drift? Another now-major director who got his start with teens doing dirty deeds (in the film Go) is Doug Liman. Liman has since become a major action director, but he’s managed to produce action films that have resonated with critics and been smash box office hits. While Liman may not make major social statements, he has at least become a respected director who manages to produce big studio films that are respected as quality genre entertainment, such as The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Lin can’t claim the same feat, which is a shame, since he certainly has the talent to do that and more.
The copyright of the article Considering Director Justin Lin in North American Film Festivals is owned by Dan Benamor. Permission to republish Considering Director Justin Lin in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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