User reviews

Shot on a tiny $40,000 budget, "A Better Place" is a very impressive first film from director Vincent Pereira. A study of alienation, teenage life and violence, the film is hard hitting and realistic. The script is impressive with believable dialogue and the performances are excellent.

Robert DiPatri plays the teenager who has to start life at a new school. He soon encounters school bullies and the loner, Ryan, played by Eion Bailey. A relative newcomer at the time this was made, Bailey has since appeared in a number of films and television shows including "Fight Club", "Band of Brothers" and "Almost Famous". The delightfully attractive Carmen Llywelyn plays the feisty Augustine. Jason ("My Name Is Earl") Lee also makes a brief appearance in the film.

As a first movie, this is a genuine achievement and very watchable, despite its technical limitations. Hopefully, we'll see further projects from Vincent Pereira in the future.

The moral stance taken by Barret in this intelligent philosophical thriller is one that precludes any belief in a caring God or for that matter a caring society. Actually, his morality keeps defining itself by the events of the moment. Deeply affected by the horrible tragedy of the death of his parents, he wears a chip on his shoulder and avoids contact with mostly all humanity except for Ryan, who acts as his conscience throughout the film. Ryan maintains his hope for a world that makes sense and is compassionate. But by the end of the story, Ryan himself is engulphed by the blackness of the world, and we witness an awful tragedy.

Kudos to Vincent Pereira, who wrote, edited, and directed this sleeper. The acting and basic quality of the filmmaking is at times a bit amateurish, but who cares, since the object of this film is to make us think about our place in this world. Are people caring or do they exist merely to promote themselves and their own causes. The filmmaker presents a character who sees only the darkness of life, and I believe most of us know that life has many warm and tender moments.

Certainly a must see for thinking people everywhere.

I purchased this film because I am a huge fan of Kevin Smith. When I purchased it, I did not hear very much about it, but was amazed when viewing. A Better Place is a film you think you will hate but end up enjoying it. From the start when Barret finds his Dad I was shocked but was gripped and had to keep watching. Anyone who is a fan of viewaskew productions or independent films should watch this.

"A Better Place" proves that the grass is not always greener on the other side. When Barret moves with his mom to a new place after the accidental death of his father, a loner (Ryan) befriends him after an altercation with a bully. As the movie progresses, Barret becomes aware of how messed up Ryan is and why he stays to himself. Ryan had a tragic life growing up from the brutal murder of his parents to the emotional beatings he was dealt from his aunt. It was in his "cards" to become the type of person he was.

The movie has some technical glitches here and there with the occasional bad acting. Although it is an Independent film and with that in mind, it's just kicks some serious ... well you know what it kicks. Its a good Independent movie that was brought to us from the View Askew Family. "A Better Place" has its fair share of violence and when I mean fair share I mean allot. It does a good job of contradicting its title. This is not a Better Place. No matter where you go in this world you can find yourself in messed up situations. As this movie shows, messed up situations, would be the understatement of the year.

I recommend this movie if you are into this type of genre and you don't mind the problems that come with viewing an Independent film. A must see in the View Askew Universe.

A fine display of independent cinema, this pre-Columbine movie provokes deep and personal questions and alarms the viewer with its penetrating journey into the human psyche.

Through excellent character development the audience is given the chance to take sides with different characters in the movie, each with their own positive traits and motives and certainly each with their often disturbing flaws. As violence and apathy are used to control and solve problems, we are forced to wonder what we would do in those situations, and who's really the enemy. As actions and reactions become increasingly extreme, the line between right and wrong becomes increasingly obscurred right up to the powerful and provocative ending.

I never 'blamed' the cast, crew, or cinematographer for any of the admitted flaws in A BETTER PLACE- I did quite candidly talk about my troubles making the film and some of the personality conflicts that arose during production, but NEVER did I 'blame' other people (except for a few shots that turned out screwy- they WERE the fault of the camera operator/DP who assured me they looked good- we were shooting a $50,000 film and didn't have video tap, and I wanted to be able to trust my D.P.)- any conceptual flaws in the film are the result of my naivete at the time as a first-time writer/director.

And, seeing as how you trashed the film Raoul, I can hardly agree that I pointed out EVERY problem you had with the film, 'cause flawed as it may be I'm quite proud of it- you make it sound as if I was up there saying the film sucked, which was hardly the case- unlike a lot of directors though, I'm not afraid to admit that I'm not perfect, and neither is my film, but it is a good film- that I cede to nobody. If you find this kind of honesty "shocking" then so be it.

AND FINALLY, the acting in the film is indeed quite good, particularly the two leads, Eion Bailey and Robert DiPatri.

Vincent Pereira

I tried very hard to like "A Better Place" but to be totally honest, I wished that I were in a better place, like maybe a minefield. The movie was a sad attempt at trying to be "real" and "hardcore". The acting wasn't horrendous, especially that of Eion Bailey, but it wasn't that fantastic either. The directing on the other hand was downright awful. As was the writing. To me this film came off as a disgruntled attempt to be Kevin Smith (Vincent Perriera's producer on this). The real shocker came after the screening that I attended, when the Director proceeded to point out every fault I had with this movie, and then lay the blame on everyone else (ie. his cinematographer, his actors, his crew in general) and then described shooting as "19 days of pure hell".

This is a very telling first film from a talented writer/director. Production and some of the acting may be rough on the very edges, but the film's tone is poignant and gripping and the leads are strong -- there is a constant heaviness, an anxious quality that resounds even when the film hits slightly offkey. To create that kind of atmosphere with a bare bones budget is the kind of directing that can't be taught.

I suggest anyone who is into psychological thrillers to check this film out. It's low budget, suburban location and characters just adds to the creepy feeling that you could be watching this go down in your own town.

I hope we see more from Mr. Pereira.

Over the past few years, i've only seen a couple of films that had an impact on me. A Better Place was one of them. It was a refreshing change of pace from the generic crap the studios turn out each year. Sure, it has its flaw, but should not be overlooked. Thank god for the the upcoming dvd release, now i can finally show my friends the film i've been talking about for the last year.

I had heard so much about a Better Place on the internet, and I really wanted to see this film. Going in I realized that I may have unfairly set my expectations to high, and I was slightly afraid the film wouldn't live up to my expectations. After the film finished screening, I picked my jaw up off the ground and tried to figure out just HOW GOOD the film was. It no doubt surpassed every expectation I had for this film. I cannot wait for this film to come out on DVD so I can own it. I strongly recommend this film to EVERYONE reading this.

When my brother and I went to Vieaskew's Vulgarthon 2000 , aside from meeting every one from the films , one thing he and I had talked about on the trip down to Red Bank was Vincent's "A Better Place". We were both real curious to see what this film was abou as we had both been hearing about it for a while. We saw Malcom Ingrams "Drawing Flies" first and then around 11:00 am, Vincent came in to introduce "A Better Place" with Kevin. As soon as the open credits rolled and the opening music started , the chills could be felt in the whole theatre...about 80 minutes later my brother and I sat dumbfounded by what we just watched. I hadn't been moved by a film like that or any for that matter in quiet a while and given the fact that it was produced and shot with minimal fanfare and budget is a big nod to how good Vincent's work and vision of this was. I've since shown the film to some friends on DVD and everytime , the last line ( you who've seen it know what I mean ) just leaves people stuck for something to say except to stare at the screen. If you haven't seen "A Better Place", check out the website , buy or rent the movie , watch it and discuss it with people. In this day of huge budgets and effects with very little effect on the art and purpose of making a film in the first place . "A Better Place" in my mind stands far above any of them.

This has to be most dreadful motion picture that I've ever seen, I presume the actors went by the so-called "director's" direction and can't really be blamed for this mess. The plot was at best thin as a wafer and that actually didn't matter since this was offensively bad anyway. Since I read in the credits list that the director Pereira even had a starring role in this (I never even noticed his character) amateurish work of cinema one can only assume that this was a work made entirely on someone's backyard. If you ever felt the need to watch something even more incompetent than Freddy Got Fingered this is all you need. The people who made this excrement probably had good intentions but sometimes that's not enough. Nuff said!

i really cannot understand why this film is so poorly rated. upon first viewing it, i was totally blown away. further examination proves that a few things here and there could have been improved, but that takes a back seat to the fact that this is a movie with a clear vision, and a look into a very realistic situation. with such a low shooting budget, and an inexperienced director, cast, and crew, this could have easily devolved into a production similar to other view askew misfires, such as "vulgar" and "drawing flies". if you bought this hoping it would be "mallrats 2", then you missed the point, and i feel sorry for you missing out on what is hopefully the first (and not only) great thing this director does.

This film tells a powerful story with characters that you care about and a plot that seems genuine and original in many aspects. But this film is terribly flawed. On the positive side, the plot points of this story are well laid out and the narrative (for the most part) flows well, drawing the viewer along on a story that outclasses most of the indie films that I've seen. However this film has some VERY serious negatives. First the dialogue is very poorly written with characters saying things that seem unnatural and at times unmotivated. I am generally ready to willingly suspend disbelief when I'm watching a film but the dialogue in this film was so jarringly bad that my sense of reality kept kicking in which disturbed my enjoyment of the film and distracted me from the more important elements of the film. Finally, the ending scene is wonderful but the director and the writer should have thought more about how to get there without the strange departures from motivated behavior that came before.

On balance, I think that this film is powerful and tells an important story but I will be hard pressed to recommend it to friends unless they can be very tolerant of the truly amateurish elements of the film.

A BETTER PLACE is a crudely made low budget story of teen alienation that brings to mind the now classic RIVER'S EDGE. The acting is so-so and there is one too many scenes involving fake blood (the movie's low budget shows), but it is fast paced, has a funky soundtrack and its tone is defiantly angry. Check it out.

After the death of his father, a young man named Barret (Robert DiPatri) moves to a new town with his mother in search of a new beginning. His first day of school is horrible and everything that could go wrong...does. An outcast loner by the name of Ryan (Eion Bailey) helps him out and the two form an unlikely friendship. However, when Barret starts making new friends and Ryan's philosophical mindset about the world begins to grow more violent, things start to spiral out of control. Ryan begins to fall deeper into hatred and Barret struggles to escape it.

This film is excellent. It is a dark look at teen violence and is extremely moving and powerful. The dialogue is crisp and real throughout. Never is the dialogue overbearing or too long and it is often very moving. Watch for the scenes with Barret and Ryan on the beach and the voiceover in the end for some of the high points. The cinematography is great and Pereira has found the most beautiful location spots in New Jersey. The acting of the two main characters is superb and the rest of the cast shines in his and her roles. Finally, the plot itself is gripping. It constantly keeps the audience wondering what will happen next and the ending climaxes to a breath-taking finale.

Watch many Independent films and you will see an Independent film. The quality is often low and the locations can sometimes be counted on one hand. But watch A Better Place and you will not see an Independent film. Pereira has done more than can be imagined with a final budget of $50,000 and it is definitely a high budget looking film with a low budget price. Too often now-a-days, large companies are Greenlighting and producing horrible movies that contain the worst acting and the most asinine plots you could imagine. It's refreshing to finally see someone make a movie of such high caliber. Vincent Pereira has done this with flying colors for A Better Place.

I'd just seen Drawing Flies... I bought it on a whim hoping I'd like it as it was a View Askew Production. It was awful. Just awful. So I was worried about A Better Place, but I took another chance. I was very pleased. It was a $40,000 budget but I think it looks good. The acting is so-so in places of course, and there are actually a few blurry scenes, but overall it's very well done. The character who plays Ryan definitely worked well. The story itself was very intriguing and I could relate to it, having grown up in similar situations. It's not a happy story, so don't expect a comedy. Very good. B+

If this film's flaws consisted only of the hilariously shlocky script and the irritatingly self-conscious camera-work, I would not have minded it so much--heck, I would simply have forgotten about it, and moved on. But something else really bothered me about this film: it was cruel.

The screenwriter forces the following formula down our throats: if someone suffers from violent childhood trauma, he will, of necessity, become psychotic and murderous as an adult. There really is no helping him: you might as well "put him out of his misery," to quote the film. The movie's only point and direction was to establish this formula.

This is not only a totally immoral position for the screenwriter to take, it is also a childish and naive world-view. The film's assumption that anyone with severe childhood trauma will become a monster would necessitate that there are only as many people out there recovering from childhood trauma as there are monsters out there harming people. And unless one believes there are hundreds of millions of murderous monsters in the world, then that must mean there aren't very many people with severe childhood trauma--only the occasional Ryan, whose personal situation is rare. This is stupidly wishful thinking, which cruelly congratulates those (like the character Barrett) with cleaner childhoods.

On the plus side, the "I love this land" line was a hoot.

I want to say that I come to these forums a lot to see what the general public thinks about a movie. Sometimes to see if I would like to see it myself and other times just to see the reaction of others. My biggest pet peeve is when people think that their opinion is the truth. Why can't anyone see the "truth" that this movie is horrible. I just scan over these posts as if they didn't exist. Even for movies that I think are bad, someone else may say it was good. This does not make them a liar. ANYWAYS ... I feel better now. This movie was great! I ordered it without even seeing it first. I had that much faith in it! I highly recommend this movie to everyone!

This movie comes complete with out of focus camera shots,bad acting and just a plain good old lack of imagination.Generally this movie is a showcase of what not to do for future filmakers. In fact all this movie has got going for it is being a viewaskew product otherwise nobody would buy it. I am generally a big fan of good independent films and being a fan of kevin smith is what prompt me to buy this awful movie. If your looking for an enthraling eighty five minutes of entertainment this is not your movie. p.s. I will never be duped into buy something just because it's viewaskew again.

The title of my post is probably that of every single other review of

this film on the database(Except for the few uneducated people

who wouldn't know good films if they watched each of Kubrick's

films 10 times). As a fan of Kevin Smith films, Vincent Pereira

always seemed the most underrated of Smith's team. If you've ever

heard a DVD commentary of one of Smith's films you will probably

hear Vincent getting cut off halfway through his sentence while

saying something interesting about the transfer, sound, video,

deleted footage, directing etc. But i always realised that Vincent

was a smart filmmaker and jumped at the chance to purchase his

film on DVD. I did and i know i'll never regret it. It follows the rather

simple plot of two 'outcasts' who become friends after one saves

the other from bullies only to find out one of them is rather, um,

'wrong in the head'. This is truly one of the best independant films

i've ever seen and i have no idea why no studio has ever picked it

up and released it because i know it would make millions.