A Better Life

The story of Carlos Galindo, a gardener in East LA, trying his best to raise his teenage son is a heartbreaking tale. Demián Bichir is nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Carlos and rightly so. Carlos is such a good, noble man and he tries to do things the moral and right way despite awful situations and the behavior of others.

The music throughout the film is excellent and compliments the story. It is also well written and edited. The movie was directed by Chris Weitz. Weitz directed About A Boy and one of the Twilight movies (A Better Life was produced by the same studio as the Twilight flicks, Summit). This is a much more serious picture. The movie is not sensationalized the way some films of a similar subject matter are nor is it political. It certainly makes one think about the political context of the characters' lives. Before A Better Life I knew Bichir from his role on Weeds. His character on Weeds is not a sympathetic one but reading the press on A Better Life and seeing Bichir in the awards circuit made me very interested in the movie. His next role in 2012 is in Oliver Stone's Savages, also co-starring John Travolta, Benicio Del Toro, Uma Thurman and Salma Hayek.

A Better Life is available on DVD. I have one more movie to see and I will have seen all of the nominated Best Actor performances. Next up to complete that, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Gary Oldman and last year's Best Actor, Colin Firth.