Slumdog Millionaire

Last night, instead of our periodic Hitchcock movie night, Abby, Jeanne, Isaac and I braved the balmy December night and converged on the Ambler Theater to see Slumdog Millionaire, the latest film from Danny Boyle. A day later, I can honestly say the following:

This was the best film I have seen this year.
This was the best directed film I saw this year...I'm not an expert on this one, but my amateur film instincts tells me this is so...
This may be the best film I have ever seen. I won't say my "favorite", but maybe the best all around movie.
Danny Boyle has supplanted the likes of Wes Anderson and P.T. Anderson as my current favorite director...(And has a director ever directed such an eclectic bunch of work? Trainspotting, Sunshine, 28 Days Later, Slumdog, Millions, and others?)

This was the second time in the past month that I have settled into my seat as the lights dimmed and the film reels...or digital projector...rolled, expecting to find myself watching a comedy only to be absorbed by a film far more serious and intense than most I have ever seen. I thought Rachel Getting Married was a family comedy. I certainly laughed at times, but most of the time I was anxiously twisting in my seat and holding my breath as I fell witness to a world torn between depression, anxiety, anger, sadness joy, love and creativity on a level I had never seen before in a film.

I had similar expectations for Slumdog: a comedy about a young man from the lowest caste in Indian society who wins India's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and then struggles to find his way among the higher classes he has lived and struggled under during his youth. I also knew that there was a love story, so needless to say the opening scene which involved electrocution and beatings had me wondering if I had entered the right theater.

However, once I had broken down my initial expectations, I quickly became enraptured by this film set in the depths of the now infamous Mumbai. The vehicle for telling the story, transitioning between the game show and present and past memories, crafted a story so complex yet so complete that I was left feeling I had watched 2 hours of the nearest to perfect cinema I will ever have the pleasure of seeing. Commentary of Indian society? Painfully present and beautifully captured. Coherent plot? At first you might wonder, but has a movie that leaves behind the linear for creativity ever come together so well? I don't think so. The human story? The relationships, loving and tortured? Compelling beyond almost any I have seen. And not to forget Danny Boyle: the soundtrack, cinematography, dialogue, pacing and every other ounce of the film was absolutely stunning. The actors, primarily unrecognizable faces to me, were incredible.

I'll be interested to see how the Academy treats Slumdog. The Globes nominated it for Best Picture, Best Director, and Original Score. It may get several more of the film-making awards that most people talk through on Oscar Night, and I hope it does. I doubt the unknown actors and actresses ranging from elementary school children to the movie’s elders will gain any nods from the Academy, but they should. I don’t expect it will win much in the end when it comes time for Hollywood to vote, but this is undoubtedly one of the very best movies I have ever seen.