Slumdog Millionaire: Must see movie of the year. Danny Boyle is pure genius.
Just saw this at Embarcadero Theater in SF tonight. It was a packed crowd even weeks after the opening weekend, and at the 10:05pm showing.
City of God meets the slums of India. It will probably be the best film I see all year. It's an eye-opener -- one that transports you to another place and puts the petty problems of one's own everyday life in a radically new perspective.
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Throughout the movie i was noticing how this portrayal of India truly is how I know it. But don't take that in a bad way. All the beauty that you see, all the language, the slums, the people...totally true.
But the corruption, violence, and problems in the country... while they are true and really there, are not something a tourist would ever see. I say that because I encourage everyone to visit India in their lifetime. The Mumbai attacks last month were sad and unfortunately, but i hope it doesn't deter anything from seeing this great country.
I am amazed that Danny Boyle, and UK citizen, was able to produce the most true to life movie about India I have ever seen.
See the high res trailer for Slumdog here:
Also, this is interesting: Mercedes-Benz asked that its logos be removed in scenes taking place in the slums. The company, according to Danny Boyle, did not want to be associated with the poverty-stricken area, fearing that that might taint its image.
MB wanted their logos removed from the poverty-stricken scenes? Sheesh. With the economy as bad as it is, I'm thinking they'd welcome the association with poor people since there are so many of us out here now. ;)
"Mercedes-Benz: Our cars are driven through poor neighborhoods all the time."
I thought the story-telling style was rather slapdash -- I felt like I was watching 3 different scripts put together. Stylistically, I found echoes of both City of God (one of the best films of the past 10 years) and (oddly) The Usual Suspects, but found myself forced to compare it unfavorably to these two movies. Though Slumdog began as a sharp and compelling portrayal of life in poverty, by the end it ended up as some cheap, hokey and predictable tale of star-crossed lovers and a half-hearted notion of "destiny" which left me feeling empty, and perhaps a bit cheated.
Don't get me wrong, this is a good movie. But I expect far more than this from a Best Picture winner, and even a nominee. Having seen all 5 of the Best Picture nominees, I can honestly say that Slumdog Millionaire rests comfortable at the bottom of the heap in my opinion. Should it win (and this looks to be certain) I'll find it to be the weakest Best Picture since A Beautiful Mind.
This is one of the reasons I moved away from Hollywood. I don't expect much from Oscar nominations or wins. I'm just satisfied when the Academy's opinions match up with mine.
And, yeah, when the Academy's opinion matches up with mine, I am usually surprised and delighted. I am often far from mainstream, and once in a while the Academy, too, ventures off of the beaten path and does something unexpected.
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