B for "boy" or E for "error"?

Take Out

Crit (2006)

OK, this has a compelling if obvious plot: undocumented Chinese immigrant has to come up with $800 in a day or his loan shark's muscle will do Very Bad Things to him--worse than the thump with a hammer in the back they've already given him as an effective reminder of his obligation. He comes up with $650 from a couple of sources, leaving him $150 to net in a single shift's food delivery shift (his PR is $90).
How that is going to shake down is pretty much inevitable, though, and how this really works is as a (more desperate than usual) day in the life of somebody many of us encounter weekly without giving much thought to. (OK, some of us give a lot of thought to him, including our personal carbon footprint [which itself includes the question of whether he drives or, as here, bicycles]; a perceived obligation to fetch anything within walking distance ourselves, as part of the Price We Pay; an unwillingness to treat someone as a coolie, no matter how generously we tip; but a recognition [which this film certainly enhances] of how important those generous tips are to him. Some of us think about him, as about everything else, way too fucking much.)
And it is a day fascinating in its tedium and frustration (including rain and a flat tire that you can see coming all the way from the book of Job) and (of course) lousy tips. Actually, it's hard to track some of the tips: some are clearly lousy, some apparently not; but whatever Ming Ding receives he takes with the same stony silence, despite his friend and colleague's attempt to teach him to smile broadly and insincerely and say "Thank you very much!" Until the end of the workday he displays emotion only after being forced to make an extra (and thus time-wasting, and thus tip-opportunity-denying) trip because he has been given chicken instead of the ordered beef.
Anyway, bottom line: for god's sake tip generously; if you can't afford 20%, you can't afford to have food delivered.

The Wackness

Crit

Another surprisingly appropriate double feature: the young protagonist here also needs desperately to raise a huge amount of money in a hurry, though in this case it's because he's far more grown up than his deadbeat parents, and thus his thriving pot dealership is the family's only hope to avoid eviction from their Upper East Side apartment.
There's other stuff, too: first love, psychotherapy, the magic of mix tapes (it's 1994), but if it weren't for Ben Kingsley's convincingly unhinged stoner shrink, there wouldn't be much there here.

Trailer

• Frozen River--Looks intense, and it seems like I already have a positive Jennie Tonic response, but I can't find it; anyway, I'm in if it comes to town.