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Better Things

Play trailer Poster for Better Things 2008 1h 33m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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90% Tomatometer 20 Reviews 33% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
Feeling desperate, lonely and hopeless, a group of youths in rural Britain turns to drugs to dull the pain of their empty lives.

Critics Reviews

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Jonathan Romney Sight & Sound 07/06/2018
An inventive, unclichéd example of British realism which shines a light into rarely explored social territory and the unexamined lives of its characters. Go to Full Review
Anna Smith Empire Magazine 01/23/2009
3/5
It's a miserable film, really, but it might just get you thinking - and make you grateful for what you've got. Go to Full Review
David Jenkins Time Out 01/23/2009
4/6
The ironies are always cruel and never comic in British writer-director Duane Hopkins's striking debut, an austere, though empathetic, insightful and technically crisp slice of social realism. Go to Full Review
List Staff The List 03/20/2019
4/5
The Dardennes brothers meet Mike Leigh in Brit writer/director Duane Hopkins excellent feature debut about drugs and doomed lives in the Cotswolds. Go to Full Review
María Fernanda Mugica La Nación (Argentina) 11/27/2018
The film is an example of British realism with virtues. [Full Review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
Juan Pablo Russo EscribiendoCine 11/20/2018
7/10
Duane Hopkins revealed a singularity and a talent that he later confirmed. [Full Review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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O g Nov 24 The cinematography, with its blurry, faded palette gives a slight air of fleeting unreality. Visually pleasing in the coldest, most claustrophobic way possible - matching the dissonant atmosphere of the film. But the actual content, while adequate, could have been elevated by actors of a higher quality. See more Olivia B 01/28/2024 It's a really good show but the characters are flanderised to the point where all three daughters and mom are just unbelievably insufferable. Just incredibly self righteous, insanely selfish and I can't help but despise them all to the point where it's just not enjoyable to watch anymore. If I knew them in real life I could never ever live with these people. It's too much they're all awful people despite trying to redeem them once every few episodes they just go back to being ignorant little assholes. See more 06/04/2015 Lol Crawley's cinematography is masterful and oddly ill-suited for Duane Hopkin's movie which is almost oppressively depressing. Hopkins never offers any remotely satisfying development of characters beyond the fact that each one is sort of hopelessly lost in addiction, phobia, rage of bitter depression. By the time the movie reaches its mid-point, the bleakness starts to feel like cinematic torture. Nothing about what is happening on the screen matches the lush and beautiful surroundings of what I think must be a lovely town in England. Yet, it would appear that every single person living there is either a depressed junkie or painfully old. Pointless waste of time. See more 02/18/2015 Bunch of people taking different types of drugs. Got bored, stopped watching after 20 minutes See more 02/01/2015 WOW......WOW.....WOW.....SO SO SO SO SO BAD......MAN THIS IS SUCH AN AWFUL MESSY MESSY MOVIE 2 WATCH, IT IS SO SO SO SO DREADFUL, IT IS SUCH AN AWFUL MOVIE 2 WATCH, IT IS SO SO SO AWFUL MOVIE 2 WATCH, IT IS SO SO SO DREADFUL, IT IS SO SO SO DREADFUL, IT IS SUCH AN AWFUL MOVIE 2 WATCH IT IS SUCH AN AWFUL MESSY MOVIE 2 WATCH.......WARNING THIS MOVIE CONTAINS STROBE LIGHTNING EFFECTS THROUGHOUT THIS MOVIE......MAN THIS IS SUCH AN AWFUL MOVIE 2 WATCH, IT IS SUCH AN AWFUL MESSY MOVIE 2 WATCH, IT IS SUCH AN AWFUL MOVIE 2 WATCH, IT IS SUCH A BAD MOVIE 2 WATCH, JUST AVOID THIS MOVIE AT ALL IT IS SUCH A BAD MOVIE 2 WATCH, JUST AVOID THIS MOVIE AT ALL COSTS IT IS THAT BAD.....JUST DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE IT IS SO AWFUL.......ITS GOT A GOOD SOUNDTRACK THROUGHOUT THIS MOVIE.....BUT MAN THIS MOVIE IS SO SO SO AWFUL 2 WATCH.... See more 01/06/2013 Or, "Bitter Things," as aimless people take drugs and stare into space. See more Read all reviews
Better Things

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Movie Info

Synopsis Feeling desperate, lonely and hopeless, a group of youths in rural Britain turns to drugs to dull the pain of their empty lives.
Director
Duane Hopkins
Screenwriter
Duane Hopkins
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 18, 2020
Runtime
1h 33m