Allow me to be a massive wet blanket: Slumdog Millionaire is not a great movie. It's not even very good.
This isn't a case of unrealistic expectations, nor is it a case of political bias clouding one's judgement. I simply think it is only an above average film. I don't even think it's a matter of opinion.
It's a nice film about a kid who survives through the slums of Mumbai with the help of his brother and a female friend. He falls in love with the female friend, they are separated and reunite over his appearence on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. It's a fairy tale with a nice happy ending with some melodramatic/hyperkinetic touches to make it seem somewhat cutting edge. It's an enjoyable film you watch and then forget within minutes; not a modern masterpiece.
Obviously I am out of the mainstream on this, but I am at a total loss to explain the critical acclaim it has received. The appeal is broad and scattershot. It's a inspirational, feel-good, liberal guilting piece of cinematic tourism. It's a teen romantic comedy/children defying the odds/gangster movie. For a good part of the movie it works well, but the ending is all teen movie replete with the surface-level romance, two dimensional characters and ending at a train station/bus station/airport.
This isn't a case of unrealistic expectations, nor is it a case of political bias clouding one's judgement. I simply think it is only an above average film. I don't even think it's a matter of opinion.
It's a nice film about a kid who survives through the slums of Mumbai with the help of his brother and a female friend. He falls in love with the female friend, they are separated and reunite over his appearence on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. It's a fairy tale with a nice happy ending with some melodramatic/hyperkinetic touches to make it seem somewhat cutting edge. It's an enjoyable film you watch and then forget within minutes; not a modern masterpiece.
Obviously I am out of the mainstream on this, but I am at a total loss to explain the critical acclaim it has received. The appeal is broad and scattershot. It's a inspirational, feel-good, liberal guilting piece of cinematic tourism. It's a teen romantic comedy/children defying the odds/gangster movie. For a good part of the movie it works well, but the ending is all teen movie replete with the surface-level romance, two dimensional characters and ending at a train station/bus station/airport.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Perhaps I see it this way because the romance between Jamal and Latika takes place entirely in their adolescence. What is their relationship like now? Has Latika's life as a prostitute/gangster moll changed her in any way? One would think that it would. What has Jamal done in the meantime? He didn't spend six years as a chai boy, so what did he do then? Through his entire teenage years he stayed true to the woman he loved at thirteen? And if he did, then great! I want to see that! Instead it is breezed over. Jamal and Latika's entire reason to be together is based off of a childhood connection, and yet none of that is evident in the paucity of scenes between Dev Patel and Freida Pinto.
So my question is, why do they even want to be together? The answer seems apparent, but it isn't that easy. No, not even in a fairy tale. As Jay Gatsby and several others have learned, what you had with someone isn't permanent. Six years is a lifetime to be apart, but there seems to be no moment of reawakening, rediscovering the person you once knew. No concerns about the other person, they simply want to be together because that is what is easiest for the screenwriter, the director and espescially for the beautiful but painfully wooden actress Freida Pinto. So perhaps that's where I differ from most. I liked the foundation of Jamal and Latika's friendship, but I had nothing invested in their hollow romance. And so I did not rejoice at movie's end. I don't think I'm the only one either.
Sorry Folks, The Emperor has no clothes... or whatever the Indian equivalent of that would be.
1 comments:
I don't disagree with you, but isn't that what fairy tales are? Hollow?
If anything, the one to blame is the screenwriter, Simon Beaufoy, who hasn't written anything with very much depth.
It is overrated in the sense that it's probably got a very good chance of winning best picture at the oscars.
But it still is among the best 20 films of the year...and certainly one of the most interesting ones to watch in terms of photography. Sure, the story lacks some depth, but it's still a pretty good movie.
The emperor may not be wearing a Dolce and Gabanna suit, but he is wearing a pretty nice pair of loafers, a tuxedo t-shirt and a cocksock.
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