Behind the Times

[andrewducker]

We finally saw Slumdog Millionaire. Which was gorgeously shot, nicely harrowing in parts, very stylised, and I wasn't at all sure how I felt about it's treatment of India by the end.

I did think the people who criticised it for its lack of veracity had _slightly_ more of a point that an ex-flatmate of mine who once complained that Evita wasn't in Spanish, but only slightly. I was also glad that he decided that 1/3 of the film ought to be in Hindi (apparently telling the studios that a small amount would be and then ramping it up dramatically from there).

It veered back and forth between reality and fantasy depending on which one was more dramatic at the time, in a significant case of wanting to both have its cake and eat it, but this is apparently the best way to win Oscars. And, being a Danny Boyle film, I didn't expect it to be that coherent, so I was pleased that it worked as well as it did.

Also, I was amused that Dev Patel got the role because of Skins. Oh, and the dance scene in the end credits was glorious.

Comments

[meaningrequired.livejournal.com]

I can only take so much trauma, and detached from the characters before we got to the end, so the relief and happy ending was not to be mine.

[meihua.livejournal.com]

I spent most of the film having a weird sense of deja vu, until I realised that I'd heard a Radio 4 dramatisation of the source material some time ago. I remember the R4 piece as much better than the film!

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

I still haven't watched this film.

But I thought "The Hurt Locker" was very good.

[luckylove.livejournal.com]

I had to get my boyfriend to read out all the subtitles to me. Yellow on orange or whatever the fuck the colour scheme was was not a good combination. I couldn't read them at all. I suppose I should be grateful that there were subtitles at all. So many things on tv don't have subtitles but I'd still like to be able to read them.