Slumdog Millionaire: won 4 golden globes because "It is written"
At the golden globes "Slumdog Millionaire" swept the 3 major categories, best picture, best Director, and best original screenplay and 1 minor category for best score. Until that point I have stayed away from this movie because it didn't look like anything I would be interested in watching. But after it took home best picture I had to see what all the fuss was about. So I finally sat down and watched it. Was "Slumdog Millionaire" deserving of the award?
A. Yes......................................B. No
C. Possibly................................D. It is Written
"Slumdog Millionaire" takes place in modern day Mumbai. A boy, Jamal Malick (Dev Patel) who was a former "slumdog," a person who lives on the streets, gets on the Indian version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire" and manages to get to the final question. He is quickly arrested on suspicions of cheating because there is no way a "slumdog" could possibly know the answers to the questions that even educated people couldn't answer. After torture the police finally take him to their office and replay a taped version of his appearance on the show. After each question the officer asks him how he knew the answer to the questions. At this you are treated to a flashback of his childhood where by some lucky happenstance he saw or expereinced something that was relevant to the question. In this "Usual suspects" esqu way the movie progresses until it eventually reaches the climax. As you can probably guess there's a girl, Latika (Freida Pinto), involved.
I'm not going to pretend like I understood everything the movie was trying to say. I do not have a vested interest in Indian culture and a lot of things probably went right over my head. But as it stands "Slumdog Millionaire" is a good movie. Not a great movie, hardly best picture material in my humble opinion. The love story aspect of the movie was a bit too cliche for me; everything about it was pretty textbook. Boy meets girl, boy and girl get separated, boy finds girl again but shes with someone else, boy does something extreme to show his feelings girl chooses the boy and they live happily ever after. Throughout the movie I never really understood how or why Jamal became attached to Latika. There was really no definitive scene where it seemed like they had an emotional connection. It seemed like she just happened to be the first girl he ever saw and he just got attached to her.
I definitely agree with the decision to give this film best director. The scenes were all crisply shot and the locals looked great. In the scenes that took place in the slums you could almost feel the dirtiness and claustrophobic nature of the areas. I also thought the pacing for the movie worked well there were some times when the movie felt a bit slow but for the most part it was fine.
I have sort of a love hate relationship with the way the story was told. Namely with a millionaire question then a flashback explanation, question then flashback. I felt like the fact that the police officer had the need to question Jamal extensively on the "easy" questions was a bit of a cheap way to introduce some of Jamal's childhood. There were some points when I felt like the Question/flashback way of telling the story was getting a bit old. At the beginning it was an interesting way to tell Jamal's story but it was the same formula for about 90% of the film. But thinking about it I don't think there was any other way for a story like this to be told besides the way it was done. Any other way would have taken away from the film.
I don't know if the overhyping of this movie made it fall short of expectations for me. But it did. I was expecting something really unique. But boiled down to the bare minimum "Slumdog Millionaire" is basically a textbook love story. It was the location and the way the story was told that made it compelling. It's not a bad film by any means. If you watch it you won't feel like you wasted your money or time. You will probably feel good when you leave the theater as this is a feel good movie of sorts. It offers good insight into the life of destitute children in India as well as some aspects of the culture (as to how true these insights are I couldn't tell you). There were some contrived scenes in the movie that were just too perfect to be coincidence. Although it was a good film I don't think it was great. It is in the top half of the barrel but not nearly that close to the top. But anyway Congratulations "Slumdog Millionaire" on winning 4 Golden Globes.
*Cue the music it's time for the big dance sequence this review is over*
A. Yes......................................B. No
C. Possibly................................D. It is Written
"Slumdog Millionaire" takes place in modern day Mumbai. A boy, Jamal Malick (Dev Patel) who was a former "slumdog," a person who lives on the streets, gets on the Indian version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire" and manages to get to the final question. He is quickly arrested on suspicions of cheating because there is no way a "slumdog" could possibly know the answers to the questions that even educated people couldn't answer. After torture the police finally take him to their office and replay a taped version of his appearance on the show. After each question the officer asks him how he knew the answer to the questions. At this you are treated to a flashback of his childhood where by some lucky happenstance he saw or expereinced something that was relevant to the question. In this "Usual suspects" esqu way the movie progresses until it eventually reaches the climax. As you can probably guess there's a girl, Latika (Freida Pinto), involved.
I'm not going to pretend like I understood everything the movie was trying to say. I do not have a vested interest in Indian culture and a lot of things probably went right over my head. But as it stands "Slumdog Millionaire" is a good movie. Not a great movie, hardly best picture material in my humble opinion. The love story aspect of the movie was a bit too cliche for me; everything about it was pretty textbook. Boy meets girl, boy and girl get separated, boy finds girl again but shes with someone else, boy does something extreme to show his feelings girl chooses the boy and they live happily ever after. Throughout the movie I never really understood how or why Jamal became attached to Latika. There was really no definitive scene where it seemed like they had an emotional connection. It seemed like she just happened to be the first girl he ever saw and he just got attached to her.
I definitely agree with the decision to give this film best director. The scenes were all crisply shot and the locals looked great. In the scenes that took place in the slums you could almost feel the dirtiness and claustrophobic nature of the areas. I also thought the pacing for the movie worked well there were some times when the movie felt a bit slow but for the most part it was fine.
I have sort of a love hate relationship with the way the story was told. Namely with a millionaire question then a flashback explanation, question then flashback. I felt like the fact that the police officer had the need to question Jamal extensively on the "easy" questions was a bit of a cheap way to introduce some of Jamal's childhood. There were some points when I felt like the Question/flashback way of telling the story was getting a bit old. At the beginning it was an interesting way to tell Jamal's story but it was the same formula for about 90% of the film. But thinking about it I don't think there was any other way for a story like this to be told besides the way it was done. Any other way would have taken away from the film.
I don't know if the overhyping of this movie made it fall short of expectations for me. But it did. I was expecting something really unique. But boiled down to the bare minimum "Slumdog Millionaire" is basically a textbook love story. It was the location and the way the story was told that made it compelling. It's not a bad film by any means. If you watch it you won't feel like you wasted your money or time. You will probably feel good when you leave the theater as this is a feel good movie of sorts. It offers good insight into the life of destitute children in India as well as some aspects of the culture (as to how true these insights are I couldn't tell you). There were some contrived scenes in the movie that were just too perfect to be coincidence. Although it was a good film I don't think it was great. It is in the top half of the barrel but not nearly that close to the top. But anyway Congratulations "Slumdog Millionaire" on winning 4 Golden Globes.
*Cue the music it's time for the big dance sequence this review is over*
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