Jun 07 2009
Slumdog Millionaire - Worth millions?
Directors: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan (co-director)
Writers: Simon Beaufoy (screenplay), Vikas Swarup (novel)
Starring: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Freida Pinto, Rajendranath Zutshi, Madhur Mittal
Overall rating: 8/10
Slumdog Millionaire has received accolades from all across the critic spectrum, but is it really that good? Was it really worth eight Oscars? Should it really cause the epiphanic smile in every friend that has seen it and hears the film mentioned in passing? Danny Boyle (Trainspotting and The Beach) may have gotten lucky on this one.
Everything that went into making this film fit to a tee-from the screenplay to the cinematography to the costume design. Each character was well portrayed without overdoses of melodrama and high-end actor appeal. The story was well timed and, although fantastical, maintained its feigned sense of reality without imposing strange coincidences to tie up loose ends. The camera shots were interesting without being too David Lynch and the editing kept the film running seamlessly.
But where was the zinger? Where was that tingling sensation you get when you watch a film like Forrest Gump or recall Mel Gibson’s primal scream at the end of Braveheart? Where was that magic that transforms Robin Williams into Peter Pan and breathes life back into Mr. Jingles. Maybe I’m wrong here, but did no one else get the feeling that Slumdog was missing that little bit that makes cinema more than just well organized flickering images?
Slumdog was no doubt well crafted, but for me it wasn’t worth the hype. It’s one of those movies that everyone talks about and everyone has seen but is quickly replaced by the next fad flick-everyone will forget about it in a year or so until one day, a long time from now, one of the herd will look up the Oscar winners of 2008 and say, “Oh yeah. I remember that one,” smile, shake his head in nostalgia, and return to browsing the classics section for a better film to rent.
