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Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Director: Danny Boyle
Movie review
From Time Out New York
The lifeline. Ask the audience. “Is that your final answer?” The rampant global success of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? has less to do with personality (sorry, Regis) than with timeless dramatic principles of suspense and release, risk and reward. And so it goes with Slumdog Millionaire, a simple yet euphoric rags-to-riches drama, one that shoehorns in terror, action and an unusual amount of class politics for mainstream entertainment. It feels about as supercharged as popular moviemaking gets. As 18-year-old Jamal (Patel), born in Mumbai’s harshest ghetto, takes the India game show’s top prize, he is immediately viewed askance by local detectives; their interrogation leads the movie into vibrant flashbacks as each of Jamal’s answers triggers an anecdote from the school of hard knocks.
Bollywood’s melodramatic sweep is an obvious influence on director Danny Boyle, as is Dickens; there’s a long-lost love in waiflike Latika (Pinto) and plenty of Faginesque villainy to go around. Indeed, when childhood chums grow up into helpful hoodlums, you’ll roll your eyes at the preposterousness of it all. But the spirit of the film is so punchy and good-natured, it’s hard to mind, especially when its ultimate point is grounded in intellectual merit. Boyle, directing with the on-site help of India’s Loveleen Tandan, is still widely thought of as the Trainspotting guy: the Britpop-with-a-chaser guy. But Slumdog Millionaire crystallizes a deeper preoccupation, visible all the way back in Boyle’s 1995 feature debut, Shallow Grave, namely the social pressures of instant wealth. We always knew he was about mobility, but it’s actually upward mobility.
Author: Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out New York Issue 685: November 13 - 19, 2008
User reviews of this film
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- Leigh said...
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Posted on Jun 13 2009 17:34
It's the future of Bollywood. Most directors of Bollywood will now look to copy this format, which in itself took influence from Bollywood. People might not recognise progress but look back to this film in ten years time and you will see for yourself.
Great story. Very simple but hugly effective. Great stories are usually very simple no need for twists or turns.
All Jamal was interested in was Latika and that shone throughout the film......brilliant!! - Report as inappropriate
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- JeremyKyle said...
- Posted on Jun 09 2009 18:05 After weeks i finally managed to convince my friends to see this film. I was expecting it to be completely amazing. It wasn't. It definitely wasn't. It was a monument to mediocrity. I fail to see anywhere what was so amazing about it. I just thought it was deeply average. I sat through the whole film thinking "any minute we will see something amazing" and then i just didn't. And then the credits were happening and it was over and i felt violated. Why was it so good. Good means good compared to other films. Maybe i'm not enough of a snob to appreciate the cinematography or something but i thought it was super average. Also, people can shut up about the sound track, because it was poor. I saw a review which complimented the love story in this. That's bullshit. The love story was worse than average. It just seemed like a naive little boy chasing the sexy lady because he doesn't know what else to do...i thought we had grown out of "love at first sight". Eugh. Dissapointment. Eughghhh.
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- Helen_R said...
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Posted on Apr 16 2009 00:19
This is one of the best movies I have seen in the last 10 years. No, it's not high art, it never pretended to be. This is a reminder to film makers that there are other things that matter in movie making. Catching the audience's attention, making them care, presenting a story (cliched though it may be) in a way that holds the viewer spellbound for 2 hours, and ultimately transcending all that to let you leave the theater with joy and optimism in your heart .. these things are the essence of storytelling, which is ultimately what movie making is all about.
This is a style that has become unfashionable in Hollywood lately, but it's not new to us. We had it once, and now this Bollywood-fusion is there to remind us again how wonderful movies can be. If you haven't seen this movie yet, I strongly encourage you to go see it as soon as you can. - Report as inappropriate
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- Mia said...
- Posted on Mar 13 2009 15:49 darryl, I can not agree more (as with you revolutionary road review). it was not earth shaking, but managed to communicate about darkness through bollywood pink glasses. Done very skillfully and smooth, letting you just peak into richness, hope and horror of modern India's culture
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- Chisom said...
- Posted on Mar 10 2009 05:32 i think Danny did a beautiful job of bringng a Bollywood movie to the fore.It deserved all the Oscars it got,the characters were simply fantastic.It is a must watch.
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- mystic said...
- Posted on Mar 07 2009 10:50 I know I was the last person in the world to see this movie, but the hype was so high that I must be the only person to be disappointed, I never have liked the Bollywood formula, with its amateurish non-acting, impossible implausible situations , cardboard too-beautiful characters. This film to me is a propagandistic advertisement for all the commercial possibilities with the New India, but we know that already, so what's left is mediocre rubbish, contrived "explanations" for how our hero knows each answer. The best part, too late, was the lovely musical bash at the end. Compare a similar themed British masterpiece, The Rocking Horse Winner, made in 1945 or so, an exquisite heart-breaking gem about a boy who has a knack for predicting racing horse winners with tragic results, which is unforgettable, and stars a young John Mills.
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- SANDY S said...
- Posted on Feb 16 2009 12:20 One of the best "on location"films I have seen in a long time. "Should you go and see it? YES!! and that's my final answer!!
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- Rachel said...
- Posted on Feb 14 2009 06:34 Fantastic film. Any film to take your breath away like this has to be something truly special. Music, visuals, story, realism, horrors, joys, acting, etc were all phenomenal. I can't say there was a film I adored more this year than Slumdog Millionaire.
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- darryl said...
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Posted on Feb 02 2009 16:30
Danny Boyle has finally accomplished what has been attempted but never quite achieved by several meritorious films over the last decade- bringing the glitz and subtle humanity of Bollywood into the mainstream.
It's no easy task; previous attempts have been mostly well-disguised kitsch, using humor and novelty as a way of sneaking a genre into the theater through the exit doors.
"Slumdog" takes a more unapologetic approach- it's Bollywood brought home; and it's here to stay. Future films will be judged on their merits; this is the "Rosa Parks" of East Indian style cinema.
What's the secret? Well, Danny appears not to have thought about Bollywood at all; influence shines through without fanfare. There is grim social cometary and brutal conflict; but it's filmed with stunning technical acuity; the color, sets and attention to detail are more reminiscent of a glitzy action movie than a realistic examination of poverty and degradation. But "Slumdog" pulls it off- the strength of the characters and the simplicity of story are never overshadowed or dominated by the beauty and detail in the production.
The real Bollywood connection, however; is in screenplay. Indian film has always tried to be all things to all people. You can't get financing in Bollywood if your film isn't an unintelligble mish-mash of spagetti western, insipid romance and an empty headed broadway musical. And of course it must be casted with gorgeous matinee idols and be terminated with a Saturday Night Fever style dance routine. "Slumdog" doesn't deviate from this formula; but somehow it transcends it all. We end up with a film experience that makes us think about the brutality and pain of the world, but we are somehow able to leave the theater happy and feeling as if we had a positive experience. I certainly didn't get that feeling viewing "Revolutionary Road"...
Where else but in Bollywood? - Report as inappropriate
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- Holly said...
- Posted on Jan 05 2009 12:56 WOW! This is so SO similar to a book I have recently read.....
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- Leo said...
- Posted on Nov 12 2008 23:27 Enjoyable but conventional. Danny does Bollywood.
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Cast & crew
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan, Madhur Mittal full cast
Rated: R
Duration: 121 mins
US Release: Nov 13 2008
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