Slumdog Millionaire (2008) dir: Boyle & Tandan

The story of two children from the slums in Mumbai, destiny and ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’.

This film is pretty much outstanding in all departments. Technically,  visually and also storywise (it’s based on a book) with a great soundtrack by A.R. Rahman – it all comes together beautifully. The film actually comes alive on the screen in front of your eyes – which is pretty rare indeed.  Don’t wait for the DVD or dodgy download. You have to go see it on the big screen. I’ve been to Mumbai and watching the film I was often thinking ‘how did they manage to film that?’. For example, in one sequence the camera whizzes through the slums and shanty towns (capturing so much detail as it goes!) as policeman chase the two young brothers (I’m guessing but maybe they were 5 or 6 years old), then pulls back to follow the chase from the air. Looks easy and we kind of take it for granted in a big Hollywood movie, but here it just kind of looked so much better and cooler.

I’d say this is the best Danny Boyle film I’ve seen, and here he shares his director credit with Loveleen Tandan, originally the casting agent, but I think here she went on to direct the 2nd unit material, as well as work with the children (who had no acting experience) to help bring out the wonderful performances from them. In fact, each of the six young actors, playing the two brothers as they grow up, are excellent. Often different actors playing the same role as that character grows up, don’t really convince. Here it’s pretty seemless.

Although the film is full of joy it also doesn’t avoid the harsh contradictions that exist in India, so there is poverty, death and crime.

This is truly a great film with a real heartbeat and soul.  Even the ending won me over.

Filed under: cinema, drama, entertainment, humour, movies, romance , A.R. Rahman, Bollywood, Danny Boyle, Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, India, Irrfan Khan, Loveleen Tandan, mumbai, Slumdog Millionaire, who wants to be a millionaire

Serial Lover (1998) dir: James Huth

OK. Bit of a rule breaker here. This is an old film, so I’m not going to do this often. But it was great! And you won’t have heard of it. And I’ve got a bit of time on my hands (but that’s another story).

Picture the scene:

I had to get up really early on a cold Saturday October morning to go to a seminar. It was heaving down with rain and I was grumpy. So me and these 5 other people sat down in this huge empty auditorium – 9.00am – in these uncomfortable metal chairs. The kind that are always dug out from the room marked ‘Pain’ at these sort of events. Then an announcement comes on: “Before the seminar we’d like to show you this French film.”

“God noooooo!” I’m thinking. “I’m just not in the mood for some arty farty boring subtitled film.”

(I was a bit of an idiot in those days when it came to subtitles and foreign language films. And I had no hot chocolate on me to soothe my sorrows.)

What’s more the film didn’t start off too hot neither.

35ish Claire (Michèle Laroque) has decided she needs to settle down and get married, but she’s single. She doesn’t have a boyfriend. Her biological clock is ticking.

This didn’t sound like a good setup, I knew where this was going: it was a one way trip to La Boredom. But it’s shot nicely so I’ll hang in there.

But then Claire has three male friends and she’s going to pick one to marry.

I’m shuffling in my bum-numbing seat and thinking about blowing the seminar entirely. God it’s cold in here.

So she invites them over for dinner and…

…accidentally kills them all – one by one – in entirely believable and ingenious ways.

This was now laugh out loud black comedy.  Coen brothers territory but funnier. All six of us in the audience are trying not to choke.

And it just got funnier:

After she’s killed two of her friends, and failed to hide the bodies properly, her last remaining friend discovers whats been occurring and panics. He shuts himself in her bedroom, and pushes the end of a bookcase against the door. Maybe he can save himself from this apparently deranged and psychotic woman?

He sits down, and leans back against the other end of the bookcase to keep the door from opening.

She’s banging on the door “It was an accident! I didn’t mean to kill them!…. Both times!” Or words to that affect (and in French).  I can’t remember exactly.

On top of the bookcase is an ice-skate.

Claire’s banging on the door, blokey is on the floor freaked out.

Bang, bang, bang goes the door against the bookcase.

Snick!

The ice-skate falls and embeds itself in the guy’s skull. But he’s alive – that’s not fatal.

“Are you ok?” Claire calls out from the other side of the door, now that her friend has gone quiet.

Thump, thump, thump as the door rattles against the bookcase. Very slowly Claire’s bowling ball, which we now learn she keeps on the top shelf, gently rolls off and…WHAP! Smacks the top of that ice-skate – with dire consequences.

Of course there’s no way I can do this scene justice, but the film was an absolute delight. I mean I’m banging on about it now and it was like 10 years ago when I saw it! It came out in France, during the 1998 World Cup staged where?  France. So no one went to see it. And it’s been released on DVD in Germany.

As far as I am aware, that is it.

At one time Sean Penn had the remake rights but I don’t know if that is still the case.  I met James Huth once and even he didn’t have a copy of the film.  James is doing OK though, one of his more recent films (which I haven’t seen) ‘The Brice Man’ was No. 2 in the French box office for 2005 – after Star Wars: the something or other.

If you happen to have a copy, with English subtitles, please let me know.  I’d love to see it again.

Filed under: cinema, comedy, entertainment, film, humour, movies , amelie, Isabelle Nanty, James Huth, Michèle Laroque, Serial Lover, The Brice Man, v124, world cup

Bigga Than Ben (2008) dir: Suzie Halewood

Apparently when Suzie Halewood optioned the rights to the book Bol’she Ben by Pavel Tetersky and Sergei Sakin, all she knew about it was an article that she’d read in the Evening Standard. The book or journal was kind of a ‘Rough Guide’ to ripping people off in Britain and was written (in Russian) by two ‘Moscow scum’  who had illegally stayed in Britain so that they could scam enough cash to either get married or start a band.

In their guide, they apparently described themselves as pretty unlikeable and irredeemable lo-life drug addicts. In the film, the two main characters, Cobakka and Spiker, played by Brit Ben Barnes and the Russian Andrei Chadov, are pretty likeable and irredeemable lo-life drug addicts, and both actors convince in their roles.

(I heard that Ben was so committed to the role he was happy to use public transport to get to the film locations, hang out watching Russian dubbed movies and doss on peoples floors.)

The film is a drama with a lot of humour, and fizzes with energy. There’s a great scene where Cobakka (I think!) is comparing the different methods employed by law enforcement officials in London and Moscow when dealing with scammers. In London, over several months, you get a nice letter followed by another less nice letter, maybe followed by a polite knock on the door. In Moscow, a car screeches up, 5 cops get out, chase you, catch you and then beat the crap out of you.

Made, I believe, for around £200K, it did well in Russia, but has a very small and limited release in the UK.

Check it out. If not on the big screen then when it arrives on DVD.

Filed under: cinema, drama, entertainment, film, humour, movies , Andrei Chadov, Ben Barnes, Bigga than Ben, Bol’she Ben, Narnia, Pavel Tetersky, reviews, Sergei Sakin, Suzie Halewood, v124