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A Beautiful Life (2008)
Movie review
From Time Out New York
When a film reveals the irony of its title during the opening-credits montage, it’s a safe bet that what follows won’t be a study in subtlety. Clichéd and formulaic, Alejandro Chomski’s intersecting-lives drama, set on the mean streets of Los Angeles, features a teenage runaway (Sarafyan), a Chinese stripper (Bai) with the requisite heart of gold and a Salvadoran illegal-immigrant busboy (Garcia). Hinging on a single plot point that’s made painfully clear during the first blurry flashback, A Beautiful Life has no surprises, save Bai Ling’s midfilm musical performance.Author: Andrew Grant
Time Out New York Issue 731: October 1 - 7, 2009
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