I don’t see Slumdog Millionaire as a realistic film, but that’s not a problem for me. It solves the problem of people fretting over the naïve, tourist’s view of Mumbai - so what? The filmmakers haven’t sacrificed story for realism and Slumdog Millionaire plays as a sort of grim, elongated fairy tale, with one misfortune rapidly followed by the next for Malik (Dev Patel).
Patel never quite convinces me as a “slumdog” or as a romantic lead - I’m not going to dwell on that too much though as his acting was decent, if not outstanding. The child actors were superb, as was the menacing Indian Aphex Twin villain and the Millionaire host. There were plenty of interesting support characters and all were imbued with realistic, nasty human qualities. That said, occasionally the evil appeared a little over the top. Surely Malik and Latika aren’t the only good people in Mumbai?
The soundtrack was magnificent, perfectly supporting and enhancing the action. Many scenes are memorable thanks to excellent artistic camerawork and fine editing. There’s a constant cinematic richness to the very poor locations captured. It’s clear to see that Slumdog is the work of Trainspotting director Danny Boyle - he’s obviously very competent. Slumdog Millionaire is stylish and its production an exemplary example of how to do it. I also liked the idea of having a chapter of Malik’s life with each Millionaire question - innovative.
It’s a bit too sentimental. Dev Patel’s not brilliant. The slums aren’t that realistic (so I hear). Also, as is the current plague of many recent high budget movies, it was too long. Cutting some sectiosns wouldn’t have harmed the quality of the movie but would have made it seem less like it was trying to be an epic poem. Despite these issues, it’s a good movie, highly glossed and polished.
***
Patel never quite convinces me as a “slumdog” or as a romantic lead - I’m not going to dwell on that too much though as his acting was decent, if not outstanding. The child actors were superb, as was the menacing Indian Aphex Twin villain and the Millionaire host. There were plenty of interesting support characters and all were imbued with realistic, nasty human qualities. That said, occasionally the evil appeared a little over the top. Surely Malik and Latika aren’t the only good people in Mumbai?
The soundtrack was magnificent, perfectly supporting and enhancing the action. Many scenes are memorable thanks to excellent artistic camerawork and fine editing. There’s a constant cinematic richness to the very poor locations captured. It’s clear to see that Slumdog is the work of Trainspotting director Danny Boyle - he’s obviously very competent. Slumdog Millionaire is stylish and its production an exemplary example of how to do it. I also liked the idea of having a chapter of Malik’s life with each Millionaire question - innovative.
It’s a bit too sentimental. Dev Patel’s not brilliant. The slums aren’t that realistic (so I hear). Also, as is the current plague of many recent high budget movies, it was too long. Cutting some sectiosns wouldn’t have harmed the quality of the movie but would have made it seem less like it was trying to be an epic poem. Despite these issues, it’s a good movie, highly glossed and polished.
***
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