Backdrop fallback

A Better Life

A Better Life

Share

A Better Life

"Every father wants more for his son."

2011

1h 38m

7.2(289 votes)

Drama

Overview

An Indigenous Latino American gardener in East L.A. struggles to keep his son away from gangs and immigration agents while traveling across town to perform landscaping work for the city's wealthy landowners.

Where to Watch

Buy

Google Play Movies

YouTube

Rent

Google Play Movies

YouTube

Amazon Video

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

Summit Entertainment

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Demián Bichir

Demián Bichir

Carlos Riquelme

José Julián

José Julián

Luis Galindo

Chelsea Rendon

Chelsea Rendon

Ruthie Valdez

Dolores Heredia

Dolores Heredia

Anita

Joaquín Cosío

Joaquín Cosío

Blasco Martinez

Carlos Linares

Carlos Linares

Santiago

Bobby Soto

Bobby Soto

Facundo

Nancy Lenehan

Nancy Lenehan

Mrs. Donnely

Gabriel Chavarria

Gabriel Chavarria

Ramon

Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin

Charlie

Creative team

Directed by: Chris Weitz
Written by: Eric Eason
Roger L. Simon
Produced by: Jami Gertz
Chris Weitz

Similar Movies

Hugo and Josephine

Hugo and Josephine

Josefin is a six year old girl who lives isolated in the countryside, where her father is a priest. She has no friends until she meets Hugo. He is a carefree boy who'd rather walk in the forest than go to school. Together with the gardener, they make up fun things to do.

Hollywood

Hollywood

Hollywood, CA, a place of refuge for dreamers from all over the world. Enter a small town girl from Kansas who comes to LA to hit it big....a jaded Detective who's looking for a way out....and her disappearance that binds them. Perhaps he would find her, perhaps he would find himself.

Training Day

Training Day

On his first day on the job as a narcotics officer, a rookie cop works with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears.

Breakdown

Breakdown

On their cross-country drive, a married couple, Jeff and Amy Taylor, experience car trouble after their SUV breaks down. Stranded in the New Mexico desert, the two catch a break when a passing truck driver offers Amy a ride to a nearby café to call for help. Meanwhile, Jeff is able to fix the car and make his way to the café, but Amy isn't there. He tracks down the trucker ― who tells the police he's never seen Jeff or his wife before. Jeff then begins a desperate, frenzied search for Amy.

The Glass House

The Glass House

When Ruby and Rhett's parents are killed in a car accident, their carefree teenage lives are suddenly shattered. Moving to an incredible house in Malibu with the Glasses', old friends of the family, seems to be the beginning of a new life for them.

The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California and a new life... Hopefully.

99 Miles Till LA

99 Miles Till LA

In a bid to recapture the carefree days of their youth, four friends decide to escape their daily routines and responsibilities and hit the open road to California. As the friends traverse the stunning landscapes of California, they rediscover the value of friendship and the power of shared memories. Beneath the laughter and chaos, they confront their fears, vulnerabilities, and unfulfilled dreams, strengthening the unbreakable bonds they now share. "99 Miles Till LA" is a unabridged celebration of camaraderie, self-discovery, and the enduring power of friendship that will leave you touched by the beauty of life's unexpected adventures.

Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine

A family loaded with quirky, colorful characters piles into an old van and road trips to California for little Olive to compete in a beauty pageant.

East of Eden

East of Eden

In the Salinas Valley in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother for the love of their father. Cal is frustrated at every turn, from his reaction to the war, how to get ahead in business and in life, and how to relate to his estranged mother.

The Wizard

The Wizard

A boy and his brother run away from home and hitch cross-country, with help from a girl they meet, to compete in the ultimate video game championship.

Jarhead

Jarhead

Jarhead is a film about a US Marine Anthony Swofford’s experience in the Gulf War. After putting up with an arduous boot camp, Swofford and his unit are sent to the Persian Gulf where they are eager to fight, but are forced to stay back from the action. Swofford struggles with the possibility of his girlfriend cheating on him, and as his mental state deteriorates, his desire to kill increases.

Loitering with Intent

Loitering with Intent

Fledgling screenwriters retreat to a quiet country manor to work on their script, but a constellation of needy characters produces constant interruptions.

The Chumscrubber

The Chumscrubber

The Chumscrubber is a dark comedy about the lives of people who live in upper-class suburbia. It all begins when Dean Stiffle finds the body of his friend, Troy. He doesn't bother telling any of the adults because he knows they won't care. Everyone in town is too self consumed to worry about anything else than themselves. And everybody is on some form of drug just to get through their days.

The Doom Generation

The Doom Generation

Jordan White and Amy Blue, two troubled teens, pick up an adolescent drifter, Xavier Red. Together, the threesome embarks on a sex- and violence-filled journey through a United States of psychos and quickie marts.

There Will Be Blood

There Will Be Blood

Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview's motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.

Alpha Dog

Alpha Dog

Johnny Truelove likes to see himself as tough. He's the son of an underworld figure and a drug dealer. Johnny also likes to get tough when things don't go his way. When Jake Mazursky fails to pay up for Johnny, things get worse for the Mazursky family, as Johnny and his 'gang' kidnap Jake's 15 year old brother and hold him hostage.

The Net

The Net

Angela Bennett is a freelance computer systems analyst who tracks down software viruses. At night, she hooks up to the internet and chats to others 'surfing the net'. While de-bugging a new high-tech game for a cyber friend, she comes across a top secret program and becomes the target of a mysterious organization, who will stop at nothing to erase her identity and her existence in order to protect the project.

Princesses

Princesses

Caye is a young prostitute whose family is unaware of her profession. She meets her striking Dominican neighbour Zulema, an illegal immigrant, after she finds her in the bathroom, badly beaten up. They strike up a close friendship unbeknownst to Caye's xenophobic co-workers.

Hulk

Hulk

Bruce Banner, a genetics researcher with a tragic past, suffers massive radiation exposure in his laboratory that causes him to transform into a raging green monster when he gets angry.

The Majestic

The Majestic

Set in 1951, a blacklisted Hollywood writer gets into a car accident, loses his memory and settles down in a small town where he is mistaken for a long-lost son.

Recommended Movies

The Book of Henry

The Book of Henry

Susan, a single mother of two, works as a waitress in a small town. Her son, Henry, is an 11-year-old genius who not only manages the family finances but acts as emotional support for his mother and younger brother. When Henry discovers that the girl next door has a terrible secret, he implores Susan to take matters into her own hands.

Short Term 12

Short Term 12

Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, helps at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.

Horse Sense

Horse Sense

After treating his rancher cousin shoddily in L.A. Michael Woods is sentenced by his parents to spending a month on the ranch with his cousin and aunt.

A Million Miles Away

A Million Miles Away

The life of engineer and former NASA astronaut José M. Hernández, the first migrant farmworker to go to space.

Black or White

Black or White

A grieving widower is drawn into a custody battle over his granddaughter, whom he helped raise her entire life.

Dad

Dad

A busy executive learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes closer to him than ever before. Estranged from his own son, the executive comes to realize what has been missing in his own life.

Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Hard-nosed liberal lawyer Roman J. Israel has been fighting the good fight forever while others take the credit. When his partner – the firm's frontman – has a heart attack, Israel suddenly takes on that role. He soon discovers some unsettling truths about the firm – truths that conflict with his values of helping the poor and dispossessed – and finds himself in an existential crisis that leads to extreme actions.

Rancho Notorious

Rancho Notorious

A man in search of revenge infiltrates a ranch, hidden in an inhospitable region, where its owner, Altar Keane, gives shelter to outlaws fleeing from the law in exchange for a price.

John Q

John Q

John Quincy Archibald is a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it. Therefore, he decides to take a hospital full of patients hostage until the hospital puts his son's name on the donor's list.

The Judge

The Judge

A successful lawyer returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder.

What Maisie Knew

What Maisie Knew

In New York City, a young girl is caught in the middle of her parents' bitter custody battle.

The Color of Friendship

The Color of Friendship

Mahree Bok lives on a farm in South Africa. Her father is a policeman who cannot hide his joy when activist Steve Biko is caught by the South African authorities. Piper Dellums is the daughter of a US congressman from California and who lives in a nice home in Washington DC. When Mahree is chosen to spend a semester at the Dellums' house, she doesn't expect that her host family would be black. Nor do her hosts suspect that she is not a black South African.

Minari

Minari

A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of this new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.

Resurrecting the Champ

Resurrecting the Champ

Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the shadow of his father's success becomes a personal journey as the ambitious reporter reexamines his own life and his relationship with his family.

Richard Jewell

Richard Jewell

Richard Jewell thinks quick, works fast, and saves hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives after a domestic terrorist plants several pipe bombs and they explode during a concert, only to be falsely suspected of the crime by sloppy FBI work and sensational media coverage.

In America

In America

A family of Irish immigrants adjusts to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.

An Unfinished Life

An Unfinished Life

Stoic and heartbroken, Einar Gilkyson quietly lives in the rugged Wyoming ranchlands alongside his only trusted friend, Mitch Bradley. One day, the woman he blames for the death of his only son arrives at his door broke, desperate, and with a granddaughter he's never known. But even as buried anger and accusations resurface, the way is opened for unexpected connection, adventure, and forgiveness.

Frontera

Frontera

After crossing the border illegally for work, Miguel, a hard-working father and devoted husband, finds himself wrongfully accused of murdering a former sheriff’s wife. After learning of his imprisonment, Miguel’s pregnant wife tries to come to his aid and lands in the hands of corrupt coyotes who hold her for ransom. Dissatisfied with the police department’s investigation, the former sheriff tries to uncover the truth about his wife’s death and discovers disturbing evidence that will destroy one family’s future, or tear another’s apart.

Snowden

Snowden

CIA employee Edward Snowden leaks thousands of classified documents to the press.

The River

The River

Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.