Slumdog Millionaire

A cleverly told fairy tale about a) luck, b) faith, c) life, d) Who Wants to be a Millionaire, which can catch a person’s attention even though they don’t particularly like this kind of sob story. This is a story about a tiny squirt Jamal whose life led him on the journey of answers, which Danny Boyle managed to capture to the very last detail. He managed beautifully to portray the ludicrousness of the civilized world, where, for instance, after one drastic scene from childhood, the show host cracks a cheap joke. The actors are well cast too, both the small ones, and Dev Patel himself, with the beautiful Frida Pinto. P.S.: Did you notice those questions aimed at an English-speaking audience at the end of the contest? (21/03/2009)

A naive, clichéd and predictable fairy tale about how a poor boy came to happiness. Boyle's film captivates with the sweeping realities of contemporary, overpopulated India, but otherwise has little else to offer. The childhood scenes are excellent, full of life and filmmaking passion, but the rest follows the same routine as many other films, without a hint of surprise, suspense or believable emotions. Bollywood came to Hollywood with a bang and everyone sat on their asses. Not me, though, sorry. (03/02/2009)

So here we have it. Bollywood has been on the rise for a long time, India has improved economically in the last ten years and the country has created a large middle class with quality education and therefore higher demands on the quality of film stories. At the same time, thanks to globalization, Bollywood producers have started to feel the need to break into foreign markets and it was necessary to come up with more sophisticated plots than the original Bollywood kitschy romances with songs and dances, which were completely indigestible for the Euro-American viewer. The film Slumdog Millionaire combines classic Bollywood motifs including romance, action, and melodrama, but at the same time brings them to the Western viewer in a very attractive way thanks to top-notch editing, excellent camerawork, casting, acting performances, and music. In terms of content, it's just a kitschy fairy tale for me, against which I could raise many legitimate objections, but considering the technical aspects, it deserves three stars. Slumdog Millionaire is not about current India and the life of its inhabitants, but about how the director and consequently the viewer want to see it. I like certain types of fairy tales, like Forrest Gump or Amelie, but Slumdog Millionaire takes itself too seriously for my taste and tries to evoke emotions where irony would be appropriate. I am not the first to notice the obvious contrivance of the plot, where the screenwriter and director interpret the rules of the game, which must have the same format globally, as it suits them, and strongly violates logic. Overall impression: 60%. The success of Boyle's film shows that the audience still wants to be moved and that the stories that the screenwriters and filmmakers came up with in the 1930s-1950s can be recycled in modified exotic settings. I have no problem with it receiving technical Oscar awards, but Slumdog Millionaire is definitely not the best film of the year. It certainly has decent craftsmanship, but art should look different. The much more justified Oscar went to last year's masterpiece by the Coen brothers No Country for Old Men. (28/03/2009)

A charming film with an amazing atmosphere that warms the heart and caresses the soul. I don’t think the comparisons with City of God are that appropriate, even though they are logical. Whereas City of God is a cold and cumbersome construct without personality, Slumdog Millionaire is a warm, viewer friendly and, above all, brisk fairytale that doesn’t have any big message, but it’s all the more honest because of that. Danny Boyle has proven many times that he’s a visual wizard, but now he delivers a perfect fusion of images and music. Basically, in every scene with an important song all I could do was watch the screen with admiration and amazement – so many ideas and tricks is not something you see every day. I don’t think it’s a worthy best film of the year, but the direction really does deserve an award. (30/12/2008)

A Brit-Bollywood remake of the Czech fairytale movie O chytrém Honzovi (= Clever Jack). This could be called Clever Jamal or How a Poor Guy with Common Sense Found Happiness and it is extremely good and enlightening. But didn’t it bend the truth whenever it could (mainly in the live transmissions) for the crude purpose of wringing your heart strings? Yes, but who cares in a fairytale, huh kids? P.S.: And isn’t the book better than the movie? No, it’s not. Because Swarup’s work is something completely different. Some black humor, cynicism and a message that is the exact opposite of Boyle’s ever so sweet, naive candy cane. And I like that kind of thing more than fairytales... (05/01/2009)