Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Movie Review: Slumdog Millionaire

I JUST got home from the screening tonight of Slumdog Millionaire. Oh MAN it was SO GOOD. The story, the editing, the MUSIC (that was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), just unbelievable.
I've hardly ever felt tension in a movie quite like when Jamal sees Latika the first time at the train station... (I won't give away what happens for those who haven't seen it)

Such an intense, epic story - like Tantalus in Greek mythology - but on such a sweet and beautiful personal level. Jamal is such a likeable character, you just want him to succeed SO much. His passion rivals that of Romeo talking about how the walls of the Capulets cannot keep love out, and the kinsmen are no stop to him. :)

I LOVED IT.

The speed and confusion of Mumbai cross-cut with the relative calm of the "Who wants to be a Millionaire" set was very powerful, and the style of narrative was very different than the usual kind of movie that you see. This is not just a movie - it's a cinematic feat. Even being able to film such a movie at all is remarkable in it's own right, but to make a film this powerful and with this much passion... oh man it was amazing.

Strangely enough Slumdog Millionaire is the only one of the 5 Oscar Best Picture Nominated films that I've seen so far! Crazy. I am going to try to see Milk this week and hopefully get to see Benjamin Button soon too. But even though I haven't seen those other ones yet, I think it's gonna be pretty hard for anything to beat Slumdog Millionaire. It was so different than any other film you've seen in a long time, and everything in the film works in beautiful sync - the music, the sound effects, the editing, the direction and story... even the music offers a clash of cultures: classical Indian music mixed with fast-paced dance music and hip-hop. SO AWESOME. This soundtrack/musical score has got to win the Oscar, too. I think this one's in the bag for Best Director, Best Film... probably one of the Sound awards too. Amazing!

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