The Motel

• Puberty sucks, and nobody knows it better than 13-year-old Ernest Chin (Jeffrey Chyau). As he watches guests come and go, Ernest finds himself forever stuck at his family's hourly-rate motel, where he divides his time between taking orders from his overbearing mom, cleaning up after whatever miscreants the motel may attract and longing for the girl of his dreams, 15-year-old Christine (Samanth

A group of over-achieving Asian-American high school seniors engage in some extra curricular crime.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 1-MAR-2004
Media Type: DVDStudio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 07/14/2009 Rating: RJustin Lin's well-received 2002 independent feature, Better Luck Tomorrow, is a strangely appealing story of the mysterious, somehow inexorable drift of an ultra-conscientious, Southern California high school senior, Ben! (Parry Shen), toward a fateful interlude with crime. Though highly focused on impressing colleges with his thoughtful balance of excellent grades, energized volunteer work (as a translator), and varsity sports (warming the bench during basketball games), something about Ben appears to be unraveling. Perhaps it is an attraction to his out-of-reach lab partner (Karin Anna Cheung), or his growing attachment to hard cash, or simply the malaise that coats his every act of self-denial. In any case, he and a brood of fellow Asian American overachievers metamorphose into the local go-to gang of black-market thievery--all while keeping up their classes. Lin brings a fresh angle to the exhausted youth-crime genre, and clarifies, with no small wisdom, the distinction between building a future and living one's destiny. --Tom KeoghAn award-winning English language film for the whole family, "the Debut" revolves around Ben Mercado (Dante Basco), a talented high school senior who ! has rejected his Filipino heritage. The long-simmering feud be! tween Be n and his immigrant father Roland (Tirso Cruz III) threatens to boil over and ruin the 18th birthday party of Ben's sister Rose (Bernadette Balagtas). But to Ben's surprise, his sister's celebration challenges his sense of misplaced identity, and the way he regards his father and grandfather (Filipino film legend Eddie Garcia). In one night, Ben faces the true nature of his relationships with his family, his friends, and himself.

Filipino-American high school student Ben (Dante Mercado) works in a comic book shop to earn money to pay his way into Cal Arts. His father, a postman, is determined that his son--who has won a pre-med scholarship to UCLA--will become a doctor. The eighteenth birthday party of Ben's sister, Rose, sets off a comedic and touching series of events and family struggles that will in turn determine young Ben's future. This fresh independent production from Gene Cajayon presents a lighthearted and warm coming-of-age tale filtered through the eyes of an! American subculture rarely seen on film.MOTEL - DVD Movie