danny boyle is a filmmaker i have never really been able to let myself get to excited about. dont get me wrong, i think hes made some genuine modern classics, with "trainspotting" an obvious gem (and a milestone in british cinema), "28 days later" the reinvigoration that its particular genre definately needed, and my personal favourite, his most recent film "sunshine". the quality of his work isnt the reason that he fails to excite me, its the lack of a distinctive style to his work that maintains that i cant follow him closely enough to be a fan. for example, i know what to expect with a filmmaker like martin scorsese, who has prevailing themes and an incredibly personal look throughout all of his work, meaning that films as diverse as "the last temptation of cgrist" and "raging bull" are both obviously the work of the same artiste, whereas with boyle i dont.
in spite of this i had slowly been garnering excitement with regards to "slumdog millionaire". the press have praised the film en masse, and the general consensus claiming it worthy of this years best picture oscar, so obviously my interest was there. im happy to report that i enjoyed the film immensely. it flowed perfectly throughout its two hour run time, the film looked incredible, with mumbai making for one of the most interesting location "characters" in recent memory, and the cast all put in amazing performances, with special note being made of the younger children (made all the more impressive after learning that only two of the performances are by actual professionals). the one thing that impressed beyond all else was the joyful nature of the film, which is especially striking when the dark tone of the material is taken into account; rape, prostitution, murder, infant coercion and more are explored, yet still the end result is that of overwhelming joy.
i have decided to edit this entry in the knowledge that "slumdog millionaire" last night won the golden globe for best picture, best directo, best score and best adapted screenplay. i was watching the ceremony live, and cant think of a more apt winner. everyone seemed so overwhelmingly happy about winning, and excited just to be there. i cant help but think that the scenes referred to in india, where everybody involved in the film was apparently gathered watching, would have been similiar to the scenes at the end of the film. a deserved winner.
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