A wildly exuberant movie from India and an excellent look at history lead the pack as the Christmas movie rollout continues.
Whether or not American moviegoers will embrace "Slumdog Millionaire" is anybody's guess. I certainly hope they do. It's a colorful fable, based on a novel ("Q & A") by Vikas Swarup, and directed by Englishman Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting," "28 Days Later"). The screenplay is by Simon Beaufoy, who wrote the script for the film "The Full Monty."
The movie, using vibrant images from cinematographer Anthony Mantle, tells the story of Jamal Malik, an orphaned street urchin in Mumbai, India (formerly Bombay), who grows up to go on the Indian version of television's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire."
On its surface that seems like plot simplicity to the nth degree, but the great news is that within this simplicity is an endearing adventure and a romantic drama that tells not only the story of the little boy's misdemeanors, but also the tale of a city riddled with mind-boggling poverty, a city that is being radically changed by business-oriented boom times. As Mumbai pulsates to the movement of its 19 million citizens -- and some of what you'll see may stun you -- "Slumdog Millionaire" pulsates with an energy that is rarely experienced in a movie theater.
To add icing on the cake, the 20-year-old Jamal's eagerness to succeed is all about trying to impress a woman.
As a child, he roamed the streets and garbage dumps of Mumbai picking pockets, stealing food and searching for metal to sell with a beautiful little girl named Latika, and his brother, Salim, a tough-as-nails type who will grow up to be part of a criminal gang. After Jamal and Latika are separated by various trials and tribulations and the passage of time, he comes upon her again and believes that making it on "Millionaire" will help him reunite with her.
Some hard-edged scenes in the film, which easily moves back and forth in time, show Jamal being brutally abused as he is compelled to answer questions about his success on the TV show, all because a mean-spirited thug of a cop doesn't believe a former street kid would have any knowledge about anything.
There are a number of exquisite performances in the picture, especially from Dev Patel and Freida Pinto as the older Jamal and older Latika.
"Slumdog Millionaire" is primarily in English, but when some subtitles are used, they are expertly and cleverly shown. No more moving your head down to read them, then back up to concentrate on the visuals.
India's film industry -- centered in Mumbai and known affectionately as Bollywood -- makes more movies than any other place in the world. Many of its pictures have within them heartbreak, melodrama, musical production numbers, comedy, romance, action, suspense and an affirmation of life.
Yes, one feature might contain all of these elements. "Slumdog Millionaire," one of the best movies of 2008, is no exception.
Stay through the credits for the dancing. In fact, you may be tempted to dance yourself.
One of the big surprises of the Christmas movie season is the old-fashioned storytelling to be found in "Valkyrie" -- and when I write "old-fashioned," I mean that in a good way.
It's a classic-style war movie about the July 20, 1944, attempt to assassinate Adolph Hitler by a group of high-ranking German officers.
Like "The Day of the Jackal" -- which is about an attempt to kill French President Charles de Gaulle -- "Valkyrie" must go up against the facts of history, since neither de Gaulle nor Hitler were assassinated.
Also like "The Day of the Jackal," "Valkyrie" is a terrific action-adventure, a tense, well-acted, sharply written, and smartly directed movie that fascinates and informs.
I'm sure there are those who may quibble about historical accuracy -- questioning such things as the number of opened buttons a commander preferred on his military tunic -- but that stuff's not germane. Fretting about things like that drags you into Erich von Stroheim territory. He was the legendary director who demanded that actors wore historically correct underwear under their costumes.
The highly talented director Bryan Singer continues his interest in Nazis. His "Apt Pupil," about a Nazi living in suburban America, is a very underrated movie. He proves he understands suspense, but that's to be expected. After all, Singer made "The Usual Suspects."
Working with a very good screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander, the director methodically and superbly draws the audience into the plot to murder Hitler.
That event was to have been combined with Reserve Nazi soldiers taking over government buildings in Berlin, the rounding up of SS troops and Gestapo forces, and the establishment of a new sitting government that would contact the Allies and offer to surrender, thereby stopping the war. In effect, it was to be a coup d'etat of gigantic proportions.
Through it all, the cabal planning the assassination was insistent that it was carrying out the actions to save Germany from not only Hitler, but also from certain destruction.
Singer and his team -- including cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel, whose expressive images are crisp and striking -- have crafted a top-notch feature that never loses sight of its mission: Tell the story, and tell it well.
There's not a false acting note in "Valkyrie," thanks to the solid cast led by Tom Cruise, as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, the man who would place the bomb next to Hitler, along with clear-eyed performances from Terence Stamp, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh and Tom Wilkinson.
As for the efficacy of releasing a movie about World War II at Christmas -- well, truth be told, when it's as good a picture as "Valkyrie," the calendar is irrelevant.
On the other hand, if you want Christmas treacle, look no further than "Yes Man" and "Seven Pounds," two monumentally uninteresting failures. And I mean genuinely jaw-dropping.
"Yes Man" is a Jim Carrey vehicle in which he returns to his Ace Ventura characterizations as a man so distraught over the end of his relationship with his girlfriend that he begins to follow the advice of a Say Yes Guru, played by the aforementioned Terence Stamp.
Carrey plays a bank loan officer used to saying no who suddenly can only say yes -- to everything. In an attempt to wean laughs from a dreadful script by Nicholas Stoller and Jarrad Paul, hack director Peyton Reed lets Carrey run amok, and trust me on this, Carrey's too old to run amok. And he doesn't have the French to back him up the way Jerry Lewis does.
Look for a yawn-inducing brawl in a bar and a horny, sex-starved, shriveled-up old lady desperate for fleshy contact. Yep, Carrey goes there. Do me a favor, don't take the kids.
"Seven Pounds" is about a man who may or may not be dead, who may or may not be an IRS agent, and who may or may not be insane.
One thing I do know, the movie is one of the worst I've ever seen. I doubt even director Gabrielle Muccini or screenwriter Grant Nieporte knows what it's about. The studio sure doesn't.
Will Smith is Ben Thomas, a sad sack driven to help people for reasons that take 100 minutes to figure out. Not explain, mind you, but figure out.
Rosario Dawson is a new lady in his life, but it's possible she's something she isn't. For all I know, she could be a mermaid. Nobody's happy. Everybody's confused. Except maybe the blind guy played by Woody Harrelson, who was born to play a blind guy. Oh, and watch out for the jellyfish.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | December 23 2008 |