Slumdog Millionaire
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Movie Reviews of Slumdog Millionaire
Movie Review: That's my final answer
Summary: 5 Stars
'Slumdog Millionaire' is an improbable 'boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy goes on game show to get girl back' story, and yet at the same time a cinematic treat and finally such good fun that any glitches in the narrative are easily overlooked. Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting - Director's Cut (Collector's Edition), 28 Days Later (Widescreen Edition)) has once again successfully eluded being pigeonholed as a genre director or as someone who revisits the same ground over and over with 'Slumdog', and even if the entire effort is not the most original, it's told with such energy and passion that it feels like a new experience.
The young actors in 'Slumdog' are what elevates this film, in addition to the disturbing yet fascinating scenery of their journeys through Mumbai. When it comes to the scenes in the slums, I'm sure there will be as many different opinions as there are reviewers, but personally, I thought the director gave an honest glimpse of a world that I know very little about. What I especially appreciated was how he did not try to play on the viewers sympathy by taking time to over-emphasize the horrid conditions. He simply filmed - and viewers may draw their own conclusions.
And it is horrid, but that reinforces the vitality of these characters - that they are survivors. What is even more endearing are the child actors who portray the main characters in the flashback sections. According to an interview I caught the end of, they were plucked from the very slums the movie is set in. All of the main characters (at whatever age) are played by young actors that without fail carry their roles with confidence and skill, until I couldn't hardly help but root for them as they tried to overcome all the obstacles between them.
It is possible that the depiction of the slums in this movie, and Indian society as a whole, may overshadow the movie. I think that would be a shame, though many of the images certainly have the ability to engender strong feelings. I would encourage viewers sensitive to small children in extreme poverty think twice about watching, but I have to remember that, even though it doesn't conform to my views, this society has been successful for centuries.
I did have a few minor problems with the film, though not really enough to drop the rating. The biggest one was a scene that I felt was a swipe at Americans, who are shown as seeing a problem and only know how to throw money at it. Stereotyping good hearted people who honestly try to do something doesn't help accomplish anything.
This is almost a faultless date movie, and even though the characters are just teenagers, there was a mature feel to the whole film. On the night we went, it was also senior night at the theater, and we were surrounded by the over 60 crowd. But I was very impressed at how well they all behaved, and afterwards overheard them talking amongst themselves about how well they enjoyed it. I do think that this movie deserved it's R rating though. There are some early scenes of torture, plus some gun violence, and the life portrayed in the slums itself can be disconcerting. Otherwise, call it a positive and affirming movie with a only a few drops of saccharine for flavor.
Movie Review: Original, accomplished, and a tribute, full of cinemagraphic power !!!
Summary: 5 Stars
As an Englishman living in Germany, where Bollywood films are dubbed and therefore much eaier to understand than with subtitles, I now know a lot about Bollywood, from both the Masala and the Parallel sides.
"Slumdog Millionaire" manages what very few films have done before it,(perhaps Ram Gopal Varma's "Satya" was the closest), in that it combines both the Indian genres. It is a "parallel film" (ie. an Indian Arthouse movie) in its construction, but it has a "Masala Movie" (ie. a Bollywood Blockbuster) feeling in its execution.
In other words, "Slumdog Millionaire" makes you think about the subject matter (which is arthouse), but it also makes you feel good at the same time (which is blockbuster). That is, it has a deep meaning (ie. that the slum people know things too, which could help the country to progress), but also a flashy cinemagraphic execution (for example, when one watches it, one has the feeling that something new in cinema has occurred, just like with Danny Boyle's earlier film, "28 Days").
As far as the Bollywood influences go, Danny has obviously taken time to study the art-form of Indian cinema closely, and any Indian who doesn't appreciate and respect that aspect of the film is banging his head against a wall for the sheer fun of it. Because at its core, the film IS Indian, full of the lifeforce and charisma of Mumbai. Though interestingly, apart from the Hindi speaking kids, who are FABULOUS, the NRI in the cast seems to understand the subtelty that Boyle is after much better than the Mumbai based actors. It's a shame, for instance, that for the film's balance, SRK did not accept to play the role of the quiz-master, as he would have given, as the character of Fate, a far more inspired and impressive counterweight to the background story than AK does. But nevertheless, AK brings everything he's got to the role, and obviously enjoyed it.
As for Mumbai, and the criticism in India of showing the slums too graphically... Well, I'm sorry, but I know Mumbai, and it looks EXACTLY like it's shown in the movie. Especially North Mumbai, near Juhu.
So, in short, Danny Boyle has done agreat job in capturing the lifeblood of the city, and I'm sure the film's sucess will open up a can of worms in the established Bollywood fraternity, where everything is still extremely caste-based, and where a lot of ingrained filmy-families have a lot to lose if "non filmy people" start having a success.
But the point is, as the film makes clear, that change has already started to happen with the inroduction of TV, so that already the old style Bollywood of the "rich kids with their rich kid's problems" is giving way to the specific concerns of the upper and lower middle classes.
Soon, I hope, the lower classes will have their own TV programs too,(which is not that far away, when one considers that a non-touchable recently won the Indian version of American Idol!). And so, when that happens, let the slumdogs cheer! Because then, just as Gandhi envisioned, India really will become a great democracy
Let us hope, therefore, in solidarity with all the slum dwellers, (who are, by the way, some of the kindest people in Mumbai), that the day of equality will arrive there as soon as possible, so that everyone, no matter what caste they're born into, can filfill their true potential ... as a human being.
Movie Review: "Slumdog Millionaire" is brilliant!
Summary: 5 Stars
"Slumdog Millionaire" is brilliant! This is how the story goes: The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions. Intrigued by Jamal's story, the jaded Police Inspector begins to wonder what a young man with no apparent desire for riches is really doing on this game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out...
The cast led by Dev Patel (as Jamal) & Freida Pinto (as Latika) is excellent! The directing by Danny Boyle (Oscar-nominated) (who also directed "Sunshine" (2007), "Millions" (2004), "28 Days Later..." (2002), "The Beach" (2000), "A Life Less Ordinary" (1997), "Trainspotting" (1996), & "Shallow Grave" (1995) & Loveleen Tandan (co-director: India, also did the casting) is brilliant! The screenplay (Oscar-nominated) (based on Vikas Swarup's novel "Q & A") by Simon Beaufoy (who also wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay to "The Full Monty" (1997) is brilliant!
The (Oscar-nominated) music by A.R. Rahman is brilliant! The (Oscar-nominated) cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle (who also did the cinematography to Boyle's "28 Days Later..." & "Millions") is excellent! The (Oscar-nominated) film editing by Chris Dickens (who also did the film editing to "Shaun Of The Dead" (2004) & "Hot Fuzz" (2007) is brilliant! The casting by Gail Stevens (who also been doing the casting to Boyle's films since "Trainspotting", except "A Life Less Ordinary") & Loveleen Tandan is excellent! The production design by Mark Digby (who was an supervising art director on "28 Days Later..." & "Millions" is excellent! The set decoration by Michelle Day (who was an art department assistant on "28 Days Later..." & did the set decoration to "Millions", "Sunshine" & "28 Weeks Later" (2007, which Boyle executive produced) is excellent! The costume design by Suttirat Anne Larlarb (who also did the costume design to "Sunshine") is excellent!
This is an brilliant drama that is unlike anything you have seen this year or last year, actually. This is Danny Boyle's best film of his career, thus far. This is one of the best films of last year.
Movie Review: Rags to Raja
Summary: 5 Stars
Believe the hype. Slumdog Millionaire, the latest film from Trainspotting director Danny Boyle, is every bit as amazing as you've heard. It's sweet, it's funny, it's tense, it's uplifting, it's spectacular!
The movie tells the story of Jamal, a young Muslim boy (played at various stages by three different actors, but most notably by Dev Patel of Skins fame), who grows up in the slums of Bombay/Mumbai. These slums are the sort of places governments ignore until either a: they catch on fire, b: there's some major world event, like the Commonwealth Games, on the way and they want to clean up the place, or c: the people who live there make them pay attention.
Through a series of unlikely events, ends up on India's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, where he's about to win the highest jackpot ever. This, of course, leads to questions: is he cheating? How can he be doing this? He's just a boy from the slums, what does he know?
As the movie unfolds, we see exactly how he answers the questions: he relates them to moments in his life. His knowledge of American currency, for example, comes up from a blind beggar boy who told him the name of the man whose face is on the $100 bill. There's another moment where he reads a person in a "The Lady or the Tiger" kind of way, trying to figure out if the answer the man fed him is real, or a bluff (for the record, I got the answer right before anything was fed. I have no idea why. It's not like I follow cricket, but at some point I must've picked up that bit of trivia and it stuck in my head, rather like with Jamal).
The movie is as flawless as anything I've ever seen. Sure, it's unrealistic; a fairy-tale, basically, but who cares? It's beautifully told with some incredibly good acting and writing. The fact that Dev Patel is not up for an Oscar goes to prove that the Academy is pretty out-of-touch with the world. Well, that plus the fact that they give thirteen nominations to The Curious Case of Benjamin Boring. Even the music is noteworthy. I may well pick up the soundtrack.
I cannot possibly praise this film high enough. It is a wonderful, delightful, uplifting movie. If you have a choice this weekend between seeing this and, say, My Bloody Valentine, see this. You can thank me later.
One last side note: for reasons unclear to me the MPAA, that bastion of conservative nonsense, has rated this movie R. I have no idea why. Sure, there's a bit of language and you see some mild nudity, but so what? I'd feel quite comfortable taking children as young as eight or nine to this movie, provided they can read well enough to keep up with the occasional subtitles. The MPAA really just needs to be reformed or go away. We deserve better.
Movie Review: A gem that shines through
Summary: 5 Stars
Whenever I watch Jeopardy or Who Wants to be a Millionaire, I always hope for questions from the following categories: computers, Chicago Bears, The Karate Kid, internet videos, Yo Momma jokes, and famous midgets. I'm sure I'd win it all. It never happens, of course, and there ends up being questions about Zoroastrianism, famous European architecture, or Finnish lakes. For one Indian slumdog, however, the stars align.
A young man, Jamal, is a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", and he's quickly turning into an improbable Ken Jennings-like participant with a nation of cheering . He simply cannot lose, and none of the game-show or police officials, who torture him, believe he's doing it legitimately; they're willing to beat him in order to prove that he's cheating. Time and time again, however, Jamal unfolds exhilarating tales of how he has answered the seemingly impossible questions, and proves through flashbacks that his difficult, poverty-stricken life filled with the pressure of both the impossible rags-to-riches life of urban Mumbai, India, but also a criminal element constantly grasping at his shoestrings, has provided him with a lot more knowledge than anyone could believe.
Together with his brother Salim - who drifts towards the criminal element rather than living a more difficult ethical life - and the only woman he has ever loved, Latika, the three form as children their own version of the Three Musketeers. When hardship causes them to separate multiple times in life, it's love that eventually brings Jamal back to his brother, and eventually Latika. When he improbably ends up on the game-show, he realizes it is his best, and possibly last, chance at a dream life with Latika.
Very rarely does a highly touted film actually deserve the praise Hollywood bestows upon it. In the case of Slumdog Millionaire, I'd say that for a welcome change, the praise is warranted. The story itself is enthralling; there is intense drama, excellent acting, and a total package that brings about heartbreaking emotion. Comparable to several movies, I'd say this most closely resembles an Indian Romeo and Juliet, but with a less tragic ending. Amidst the squalor of the Indian slums, this fast-paced gem shines right through the fast-rising garbage typical of Hollywood, as well as the garbage piling up in the Mumbai slums. Highly recommended.