12.28.08
Review: Slumdog Millionaire
Chick 1 says:
All I knew about this movie from director Danny Boyle was that it was about a boy from the slums in India who gets to go on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and that it was getting a lot of Oscar buzz. The words life affirming had also been thrown around so that made me inclined to see it.
What I Liked: Compelling story. Likable, relatable characters. Solid performances. The movie immediately captures you and keeps you on the edge of your seat. We follow the story of Jamal, his brother Salim, and their friend Latika through their childhood in the slums of Mumbai. Poor circumstances become worse when their mother is killed and they are left at the mercy of gangsters and lowlifes who exploit children as beggars and prostitutes. Boyle displays the brutality and cruelty of their situation without crossing over into what would be unbearable. The story is beautifully framed by Jamal’s interrogation, accused of cheating on the game show, each question touches on a chapter in his life. Boyle is an excellent visual storyteller, using his editing to foreshadow but not giving too much away.
What I Didn’t Like: Very little. Despite the horrific details of these children’s life, Boyle did use restraint in showing them and the effects of such a life. Some might accuse him of softening it for western audiences but I for one could not tolerated much more.
Bottom Line: Great movie. Intense but awesome. Go see it now. Definitely worth full price.
Chick 2 says:
A sure sign of a good movie is that throughout the next day the characters and conflicts continually pop into my mind, proving that they were indeed compelling and sympathetic. As I’ve said before, I am a fan of director Danny Boyle if only because his movies are never formulaic. Slumdog Millionaire is no exception. Using a retelling of a slum dog’s life to reveal how he knows all the answers on India’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Boyle has a chance to show both the ugly and the beautiful of India. Refreshing camera angles and editing keep you awake visually even if the storyline may have needed a little trimming. A tough life to revisit, in the end there is enough justice in a realistically cruel world to satisfy, and our hero still manages to remain naïve and fairly innocent till the end.
IF you want an under-the-radar indie with a fresh, compelling storyline, THEN GO.
On My Radar: Shymalan, Carrey, & Willis « The Flick Chicks said,
May 25, 2009 at 12:00 am
[...] Shymalan has cast Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire fame as the villain in this story. I loved Slumdog Millionaire and Patel was awesome in it. He has a face that you sympathize with no matter what so I’m [...]