From rags to riches. Destiny? Chance? Contrived plot devices?
Slumdog Millionaire, ah, so many people loved it. And why not? This is first class entertainment for the ADD MTV generation and indeed, it is a super-stylized movie with lots of tilted camera angles, quick cuts and chase scenes. Danny Boyle and co. ought to be commended for such unashamedly populist film making.
Certainly, this is a wonderful change from last year's There Will Be Blood & No Country For Old Men, and you can't blame AMPAS should it decide to shower lots of love on it.
But (and there's always a but) look harder past the glitzy filmmaking and you will discover a rather ordinary story spliced up and spiced up to make it look glamorous. I am not saying this film is hollow, but that there's only barely enough substance to back up it's wonderful style.
Comparions to City of God are fair, and indeed, some scenes look like they were transposed from the slums of Brazil to India. But no, it is one of the most original, energetic movies of the year, decade, whatever. It runs around and grabs your attention like a hyperactive kid.
Okay, enough of the adjectives. Let's talk about the actors, who are wonderfully cast. It does get awkward at moments, where the leads attempt to convey a melodramatic moment in English. It would have been so much better in Hindi, but at least it didn't do a Memoirs of a Geisha and have Chinese people playing Japanese speaking in English. Thankfully.
A.R. Rahman's pulsating score deserves mention and it could comfortably fit in a Bourne thriller. M.I.A. is in here, too. Which may (uh oh) disqualify it for Best Original Music come Oscar time but we all know good scores don't need to be altogether original.
By the time it reaches the ending most of us will already be carried along on the ride, not really carrying how cheekily the story serves us contrivances after contrivances to reach the desired happy ending. On any other day, critics would call it cliched and unimaginative. But ah, who really cares in the end? It's just a wonderfully filmed story that comes by and sweeps you away;sophisticated escapist entertainment, if I may say.
One final note: Does this film mark the maturation of Bollywood? Unfortunately, I don't think so. This is quite clearly a Hollywood film that pays lip service to Indian culture. But somehow I feel bigoted for expecting Indians to imitate Americans (Even though everyone knows - or thinks - that to achieve global fame, one needs to learn and/or imitate from the latter).
Anyway, here's to a Bollywood film as interpreted by Hollywood!
Certainly, this is a wonderful change from last year's There Will Be Blood & No Country For Old Men, and you can't blame AMPAS should it decide to shower lots of love on it.
But (and there's always a but) look harder past the glitzy filmmaking and you will discover a rather ordinary story spliced up and spiced up to make it look glamorous. I am not saying this film is hollow, but that there's only barely enough substance to back up it's wonderful style.
Comparions to City of God are fair, and indeed, some scenes look like they were transposed from the slums of Brazil to India. But no, it is one of the most original, energetic movies of the year, decade, whatever. It runs around and grabs your attention like a hyperactive kid.
Okay, enough of the adjectives. Let's talk about the actors, who are wonderfully cast. It does get awkward at moments, where the leads attempt to convey a melodramatic moment in English. It would have been so much better in Hindi, but at least it didn't do a Memoirs of a Geisha and have Chinese people playing Japanese speaking in English. Thankfully.
A.R. Rahman's pulsating score deserves mention and it could comfortably fit in a Bourne thriller. M.I.A. is in here, too. Which may (uh oh) disqualify it for Best Original Music come Oscar time but we all know good scores don't need to be altogether original.
By the time it reaches the ending most of us will already be carried along on the ride, not really carrying how cheekily the story serves us contrivances after contrivances to reach the desired happy ending. On any other day, critics would call it cliched and unimaginative. But ah, who really cares in the end? It's just a wonderfully filmed story that comes by and sweeps you away;sophisticated escapist entertainment, if I may say.
One final note: Does this film mark the maturation of Bollywood? Unfortunately, I don't think so. This is quite clearly a Hollywood film that pays lip service to Indian culture. But somehow I feel bigoted for expecting Indians to imitate Americans (Even though everyone knows - or thinks - that to achieve global fame, one needs to learn and/or imitate from the latter).
Anyway, here's to a Bollywood film as interpreted by Hollywood!
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