seems like a rip off of THE BICYCLE THEIF - A Better Life (2011) Discussion

[–] magnolia12883 14 years ago

Recently saw this trailer with DRIVE ANGRY 3D of all things... And agree on both counts (heavily inspired by BICYCLE THIEF and yet looks very real and honest and perhaps important?)

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[–] LeroyBrown-2 14 years ago

Me too, I saw the trailer before Drive Angry, obvious rip off of Bicycle Thief. Looks more like a self important movie. A more important movie would be addressing the drug lords and their gigantic turf war right on our border, many of the violence spilling to our side.

Badder than old King Kong, Meaner than a Junkyard dog

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] MissMcCrocodile 14 years ago

I just saw this movie as a sneak peek in Toronto and loved it. Cried buckets. A "more important" movie about drug lords is ANOTHER MOVIE. This is a movie about a father and son. The acting and directing were both fabulous. Instead of Bicycle Thief "rip off", how about "If you like BT, you'll like ABL"?

Yes, sir, I'm going to do nothing like she's never been done before!

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[–] horrorgrrrrl 14 years ago

It definitely seems to be an updated retelling of The Bicycle Thief -- and the new milieu appears well-suited to the tale. I wasn't interested in the movie until I saw the trailer and the parallels to De Sica's classic. Is Umberto D next for the remaking? It seems appropriate given the economy.

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[–] CharteredStreets 14 years ago

Saying 'If you like The Bicycle Thief you'll like A Better Life' is like saying 'If you like Nosferatu you'll like Twilight.' It's not a terrible movie, but it really makes an unwise move by inviting the comparison.

If I have to tell you again, we're gonna take it outside and I'm gonna show you what it's like!

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[–] marteenuz 14 years ago

Yeah! Just like those phonies who made West Side Story - what a ripoff!

The Lake House? - remake of Korean film "Il Mare"

Let me In? - remake of Swedish "Let the Right One In"

Death at a Funeral? - they couldn't even think of a new title - and they remade a movie that just been released - in English!

From what I understand, the fact that "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Secret in Their Eyes" were such terrific movies isn't stopping American filmmakers from announcing that they were filming English remakes, even as these films were still playing in theatres.

Let it go.

p.s. - 'i' before 'e'. :)

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[–] tarmcgator 13 years ago

What's the difference between a "rip off" and a "homage?" Did George Lucas rip off THE HIDDEN FORTRESS? Did Sergio Leone rip off YOJIMBO, or did Kurosawa rip off MACBETH? If you can take a classic and give your audience a new angle, a new approach, a new way to consider it, I don't call that a "rip off." If writers, filmmakers, composers, artists had to assiduously avoid emulating past works, creativity would come to a halt. There is very little out there that is totally original, and "originality" for its own sake is often meaningless.

I picked up on THE BICYCLE THIEF connection right away, and it only drove home for me both the greatness of the earlier film and the universality of the story told in A BETTER LIFE, which is not merely that of "undocumented immigrants" but of fathers trying to raise good sons under trying circumstances.

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