IMDB
What a fun movie this was! The images are lush with the color and grit of a poverty-stricken Mumbai, India. The overall structure of the film was refreshing -- our hero, Jamal, has been accused of cheating on the popular show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." Having grown up an uneducated, homeless, orphan the police find it hard to believe he could possibly answer so many obscure trivia questions correctly. Jamal claims that his life experience taught him lessons that, at least in the context of the chosen game show questions, served him as well as a formal education. The police inspector has a video of the show and as Jamal explains question by question how he knew the answers... the audience learns the story of his life through flashbacks.
The film vibrates off the screen with a texture and realism that could only be captured on- location in India. I've never been to south Asia, but a couple years ago I saw a film about a group of impoverished Indian children called "Born Into Brothels," which won the Oscar that year for Best Documentary. The documentary was shot on video and revealed a world unlike anything I'd ever seen before. "Slum Dog Millionaire" is pure fiction, but Boyle and company have truly captured the vibrancy, the movement, and the indelible hope that can be seen reflected in the eyes of children growing up in destitute poverty the world over.
The youngsters who play Jamal, his brother Salim, and Latika (Jamal's childhood sweetheart) are some of the best child performances I've ever seen on film. The child who plays the youngest incarnation of Jamal is nothing short of a miracle in my opinion. Even more surprising is the revelation that these kids are not actors, but were plucked from slums not unlike the ones depicted in the film.
The best part of the film are the flashback sequences-- they have a life of their own thanks to some incredible cinematography, a pulsating soundtrack, funny writing, and great performances. The game show sequences do their job, despite being over-simplified -- Anil Kapoor, who plays a mean-spirited Meredith Viera, slithers through his scenes with slimy finesse. He's even able to pull off a ridiculous scene in a bathroom where his character tries to manipulate Jamal. I just found it distracting that this opportunity would even present itself. But that's just me.
As for the latter part of the film, it fails to live up to the promise of the beginning. The weakest part is a love story that seems oddly forced/clichéd given the other strengths of the storyline. I suppose it's not really an Indian film if it's not about love, but from the start this film seemed to be about the relationship between the two brothers. I couldn't help but feel like there was some opportunity lost to tell a different, more interesting story there.
Dev Patel (from the terrific BBC show "Skins") plays the oldest Jamal and does a solid job. His appealing innocence is what makes us care about him from the first moment we see him. Unfortunately by the end, it's that same innocence that makes it hard to buy that he experienced the difficult life that's been revealed to us over the course of the movie. The beautiful Frieda Pinto (who plays the oldest incarnation of Latika) has a similar problem. She's given even less acting to do, but pulls off the damsel in distress role as well as anybody. The ending falls flat in a final game show sequence that is notable for it's complete lack of suspense. We have a trivia question the western audience knows the answer to, and the wrapping up of a storyline that we see coming from 30 minutes away.
In the final 15 minutes, things are unraveling quickly, and yet Boyle saves the ending by doing away with the predictable "guy gets rich, gets girl, and drives off into the sunset" motif. Instead Boyle keeps it simple and stays true to the world he did such an impeccable job creating. And to seal the deal? A marvelous Bollywood dance send up during the ending credits. This ending sequence is so much fun and leaves us, not thinking about the film's shortcomings, but rather with the memory of all there is to LOVE about this movie: Energy, color, and optimism in the midst of very harsh world.
Wikipedia
Slumdog Millionaire was scripted by Simon Beaufoy, who had written the script for The Full Monty (1997), which was one of director Danny Boyle's favorite British films. The script is based on the bestselling novel Q and A by Vikas Swarup. Though the script's byline about a Hindi kid winning the local version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? did not appeal to Boyle at first, he read the script out of respect for Beaufoy. The director was entranced by the script, particularly the implementation of the extraordinarily difficult Hindi version of the game show compared to the American and British versions. Boyle also called the script a "love story," since the streetkid who goes on the game show had lost his girlfriend in Mumbai and finds that the only way to reach her is to appear on the show, which she watches religiously. By August 2007, the companies Celador Films and Film4 greenlit Slumdog Millionaire, with Fox Searchlight Pictures and Pathé taking up the American and international rights respectively, with Danny Boyle directing and British actor Dev Patel cast into the lead role as the Indian streetkid. Boyle also entered talks with actor Shahrukh Khan for the film as the game show host, but Anil Kapoor took the role instead. The companies fully financed the production, which began on November 5, 2007 in Mumbai. Boyle worked with regular collaborators as well as an Indian crew in the country. The director filmed partly in Hindi and mostly in English, having expressed his love for Hinglish films as the influence. The film was co-directed by Loveleen Tandan who had earlier cast films like "Monsoon Wedding" and "Brick Lane."
The film's music has been composed by the Indian music composer A. R. Rahman. There is a song during the end credits where the entire cast breaks out into a dance number, which has already become an instant hit with the critics. Rahman has collaborated with M.I.A. on a song ("O...Saya") for the score, which also features her single "Paper Planes." In a CBC interview, the director Danny Boyle says she was a "gift" to the project's soundtrack stating "We asked her if she'd come and sing on one of these songs - It's lovely the way these things arrive, and extraordinary how they work out." Boyle calls the music the best part of the film in his interview to The Wall Street Journal website livemint.com.
Cinematical
Since I've already seen Danny Boyle's Sunshine (due out in American theaters on July 20), I can safely say that the recently-released extended trailer is chock-full of spoilers. Granted, since you may not know the characters and story (save for the fact that it's about a group of astronauts sent to re-ignite a dying sun), the trailer might not mean much to you. But once you're experiencing the film up on the big screen, you'll soon realize just how much is spoiled in the trailer ... and may be pissed that you ever watched it in the first place. So keep all that in mind before checking this sucker out. Being the huge Boyle fanboy that I am, Sunshine was one of those films I was really looking forward to. Thankfully, I can honestly say that it was well worth the wait; the visuals alone are mind blowing, and the acting (Chris Evans and Cillian Murphy, especially) was pretty darn good too. That being said, this isn't Armageddon 2. Think more long the lines of Solaris or 2001 -- it's a quiet sci-fi flick that works more as a piece of art