Saturday Night at Market Chess Cinemas

Writer/director Justin Lin has certainly moved on to bigger things in his career, namely the Fast and the Furious series of films in addition to plenty of pop culture hits, but I still consider his finest work to be, by far, Better Luck Tomorrow (2002). 

Better Luck Tomorrow might be a bit difficult to track down these days. However, I can assure you it is well worth the effort.

I consider this film to be one of the most under-watched quality films since 2000, which appeals to an audience far beyond the upper middle-class Asian Americans portrayed in the film. 

While it is true that the film seems rather specific regarding its main Asian American overachieving high school characters, the film takes on much more universal coming-of-age themes as the guys enter the world of crime. 

John Cho, Parry Shen, and Sung Kang are all actors you will likely find to be familiar-looking, as they have developed into solid character actors during their careers.