review: slumdog millionaire
So I've been alternately anticipating and dreading this film. I love colorful, over the top spectacles, but with all the hype and awards this film has been getting, I've already heard it called over-hyped.
Well. For the record: I loved this film. It's intense, and colorful, and immersive, and heartbreaking, and beautiful and I want to go watch it again.
The music is amazing: I NEED the soundtrack. I thought the acting was quite good, especially considering the time span you're watching and therefore the number of actors used in each role. I also really loved the way it was shot. The guy who shot Doubt could learn a lesson here on how to use angled shots: they really work in this film. The camera is moving so much that when it settles into an angled shot, you don't even notice.
Anyway, I'm not feeling very profound, but trust me: this film will make you want to dance and sing and kiss someone. Go watch it now.
ETA (in response to a comment): I've never watched a Bollywood film all the way through before. I tried to watch Bride and Prejudice, but didn't manage to finish it. So that's my background with Indian films: there isn't any.
Well. For the record: I loved this film. It's intense, and colorful, and immersive, and heartbreaking, and beautiful and I want to go watch it again.
The music is amazing: I NEED the soundtrack. I thought the acting was quite good, especially considering the time span you're watching and therefore the number of actors used in each role. I also really loved the way it was shot. The guy who shot Doubt could learn a lesson here on how to use angled shots: they really work in this film. The camera is moving so much that when it settles into an angled shot, you don't even notice.
Anyway, I'm not feeling very profound, but trust me: this film will make you want to dance and sing and kiss someone. Go watch it now.
ETA (in response to a comment): I've never watched a Bollywood film all the way through before. I tried to watch Bride and Prejudice, but didn't manage to finish it. So that's my background with Indian films: there isn't any.
Comments
Once again I am struck by this rising to the surface of a shadowy battle; the clash of exports from the two great film-producing countries of the world, mediated by the old imperial master, Britain.
There are many good movies on Mumbai, classic like Anand or Kaagaz Ke Phool or Maqbool, but also the more urban-modern: Bombay, Company, Satya. All edgy in different ways, visually arresting, tugging at your emotions, musically vivid. And then, I recently saw Slumdog Millionaire and have watched its Dickensian appeal to the Western media, rising up in waves about the feel-good story of the underdog, the conceits, the pulsating music and truthful view of Mumbai like the Indians would never tell it, and the raw cinematography. The interviews with Dev Patel (where are you from really? London, really? You have never been to India??) and Freida Pinto (are you from India? Really? Sure you are not from Portugal?) and the excitement over Bollywood dancing over the ending credits.
Slumdog Millionaire? A decent Bollywood movie on a $13MM budget. Good production values. But great? Come on! Wake up. Watch a few really good Mumbai movies...like the other ones I mention above. And I am just talking about movies out of Mumbai. Don't get me started on Adoor and Ritwik and the other great movie makers that have suffered the fate of all subalterns. Danny Boyle vs. Guru Dutt vs. Mani Ratnam. Such sadness underlies one of the great loves of my life, and yet so much richness.