A few thoughts while watching Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire.
Slumdog Millionaire is supposed to be a feel-good movie. How can’t it be not if it talks about destiny. However, let me just say that it is a little too violent for my taste. Some scenes are reminiscent of Fernando Mereilles’ City of God.
Why can’t Filipino child actors be this cute? Or talented. In my opinion, the child actor – Ayush Mashesh Khedekar - who played the young Jamal should be nominated for an Oscar just for being cute and un-precocious.
The character of Arvind deserves a movie of his own, I think. Or at least an epsiode of MMK. When Jamal and Salim where taken in by Maman, a “messiah” of sorts, they met Arvind, probably the best singer in the “orphanage”. So when the time that Arvind’s voice is ready for public performance, he auditions for Maman a la American Idol, except there’s no golden ticket. If your voice is good enough, Maman will blind you with hot acid to double your earnings singing in the streets. The boys who played Arvind (the character ages throughout the film) – Chirag Parmar and Siddesh Patil – have the kind of vocals that makes me you awwww. Or maybe it’s the song.
*TeeHee* Indian Call Centers. Brings back memories. The Call Center Training Room scene is kinda funny – if you’ve worked in a call center before. It’s I’m-glad-I’m-over-it feeling for me.
The actor who played the host of India’s Who Wants to be a millionaire – Anil Kapoor – looks eerily like Christopher de Leon. Or an older version of Colin Farrell.
Freida Pinto is a goddess. I have to say that she was upstaged by the child actors who played Latika at younger ages, but hell girl is purdy.
The film has it’s flaws sure, but the great thing about Slumdog is that the main character is so adorable that you really root for him. His decision delivers several “what the…” reactions but you still want him to succeed. You try to ignore his flaws and you go with him through his journey of fulfilling his destiny even if you don’t necessarily agree with his choices. This, I think, what makes a great hero for a movie.
Love the homage to old sing and dance Bollywood movies. *TeeHee* Great ending/closing credits. You will leave the theater (or, in my case, turn off the PC) with a good feeling and a smile.
Judge me, whatever, I’m in love with Dev Patel.
Jai Ho performed by AR Rahman feat. Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah and Mahalaxmi Iyer. Jai Ho roughly translated means “hail” or “hallelujah”, maybe “mabuhay?” Click here for the lyrics and the translation.
Oscar pundits are already calling Slumdog Millionaire as a lock for an Oscar Best Picture nomination together with The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons, Frost/Nixon, Milk and The Dark Knight. But with Slumdog winning last week’s Golden Globe Best Picture Drama, seems like it is posed to win the Oscar. Of the films mentioned, I have not seen Milk and Frost/Nixon yet so I really can’t give a prediction.
Okay off to Mininova now.
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