User Rating
Director
Cédric Kahn
Cast
Guillaume Canet,
Leïla Bekhti,
Slimane Khettabi,
Abraham Belaga,
Nicolas Abraham,
François Favrat
Genre
Drama
Yann, a cook, and Nadia, a waitress and mother of 9-year-old child, decide to risk everything on the purchase of a restaurant. With plenty of talent, energy, love and dreams, but no finance of their own, they find themselves forced into a jungle of financing and bank loans that quickly overwhelms them. To bail them out, Nadia has to take a job in Canada, while Yann is forced to stay behind to save the restaurant. Together, he and the child confront a relentless avalanche of creditors, an uncaring system and the daily grind from which there is no respite… Yann finally understands that his only chance of salvation lies in joining his lover – as well as reuniting mother and child – by following Nadia to Canada and a better life.
We hate to say it, but we can't find anywhere to view this film.
Boxoffice Magazine by Pete Hammond
The timing is right for this remarkable and riveting family drama which puts a human face on the hot-button topic of immigration in such effective and emotional terms that you may never look at the subject in the same way again.
Tampa Bay Times by Steve Persall
The weight of Carlos' world shows on his rugged face, even with rare half-smiles. This is a masterfully understated performance that should be remembered during awards season.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
The performances are pitch perfect, even including Gabriel Chavarria as Ramon, the man who steals the truck. It adds an important element to the film that he embodies a desperate man, not a bad one.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
Its deceptive simplicity makes A Better Life so emotionally profound.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
A Better Life was directed by the eclectic Chris Weitz (The Twilight Saga: New Moon, About a Boy), who weaves the torpor and anxiety of immigrant life into something dramatically true, if at moments a bit draggy.
Portland Oregonian by Marc Mohan
Weitz does it again here, turning what could have been another manifesto of liberal guilt into a genuinely moving tale of a father and son banding together in a hostile world.
Arizona Republic by Bill Goodykoontz
For most of the film, Weitz, riding a fantastic performance by Demián Bichir as the landscaper in question, succeeds in showing the day-to-day struggles that exist beneath the political rhetoric and upper-case headlines.
Observer by Rex Reed
The power in this movie is the way Chris Weitz trusts us to discover the facts for ourselves.
The A.V. Club by Tasha Robinson
A Better Life leans too heavily on sad music, broad symbols, and weighty speeches to tell its story; it's more effective when it lets images speak in place of words.
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
This movie will get under your skin.
Loading recommendations...
Loading recommendations...