Tag: Slumdog Millionaire

Hey Oscar? You Have Some Explaining to Do!

Images-4SWhen I was a kid on Oscar night, my parents made me go to bed way before the show was over, but my dad always kept a winners list for me on a shirt cardboard so I wouldn't miss anything.  It seemed so important then.  Without the entertainment shows like ET and Access Hollywood, the unedited Oscar acceptance speeches were one of the few times we got to see celebrities revealed.  It was thrilling.

Of course, the mystique – and the Oscar TV audiences — have eroded since then.  It will be interesting to see if tonights "new" Oscars  – which do look better and at least are doing things with a little more wit and humor – make a difference.  I'm watching as I write this – amazed that Jessica Biel, the wayward daughter from the sentimental but sweet Seventh Heaven, got to present alone  – even if it was the tech awards.  Who would have predicted that?

I think I'm out of touch, or I've gotten crotchety in my old age.  Why?  First of all, though I'm a real, loyal Woody Allen fan, I did NOT like Vicky Christina Barcelona. . Penelope Cruz was fine, but not the best.  It's so sad when two nominees (like those in Doubt) are set against one another and split the vote.  I'm assuming that's how Cruz won.  The two women from Doubt - – Amy Adams and and Viola Davis -  especially Davis,  were just astonishing.  Their bad luck to be opposite one another in the same category.

Meanwhile, I'm struggling to figure out how to talk about the presenters in the "best supporting"category.  Goldie Hawn, whom I've always loved, just made me sad.  We're nearly the same age, and she certainly looks better than I do.  BUT tonight she looked so over surgeried, overstuffed into her dress, over everything.  It was like she had been blown up with a bicycle pump – all swollen.  BUT tonight she looked so over surgeried, overstuffed into her dress, over everything.  It was like she had been blown up with a bicycle pump – all swollen.  The toughest thing of all, though, is how many of this year's most honored movies were movies I really didn't like. 

I've written before about Slumdog.  I probably should have known I wouldn't love it; I wanted to see it too much.  It's sweet and explores the poverty and misery in India, but it just didn't do it for me.  Too neat, too pat, And, to me, terribly manipulative.  As I said, Vicky Christina Barcelona was disappointing too, shallow and silly.  I'm also ornery about the show itself.  I actually loved the musical numbers- long or not, even though everybody on Twitter was complaining about them.  Probably showing my age.  
Anyway, the show was way too long but I'm not sure what I would have cut.  I loved the five veterans honoring the nominees too.  Beyond that I'm not sure.  What I am sure of is that at least now I don't have to wait until I wake up in the morning and get the Oscar results from a shirt cardboard on the kitchen table.




This Is NOT (exactly) about Barack Obama – the Last Time for a While – It’s About Slumdog Millionaire (Hint: Not the Greatest Movie Ever Made)

Slumdog1
Fair warning.  I'm about to be contrarian, so if you're fond of Slumdog Millionaire, stop reading now.  I've just come from the theater, disappointed and even angry.  Granted, I don't read reviews before I see films; they give away so much that they spoil the impact of brilliant scenes and great dialogue.  So it's my own fault that I didn't know about the torture scene and the one where the kid is blinded when molten lead is poured into his eyes.  Just what you need in a fairy tale, right?  I was with someone I'd leaned on to come, someone who is squeamish and subject to nightmares, and there we were, experiencing vivid and disturbing imagery in considerable detail.

I want some more
Beyond that, even though, as far as I can tell, there aren't many who agree with me, there's much that seriously detracts from the enjoyment of this film.  I'm going to risk my emotional and artistic credibility and describe some of it.

First, it's highly derivative, a mix of The Usual Suspects police station flashbacks and Oliver Twist. Especially Oliver Twist, complete with Fagin, street urchins in great numbers, mischief and loss.  Beyond that, much of its emotional power leaches from political correctness.  We always root for the underdog; that's fair, and anyone who knows me will tell you that I'm a sucker for a fairy tale.  But there was something manipulative about this story: an unimaginably poor, dark-skinned street urchin in one of the roughest cities in India, facing down the establishment.

Despite the rhapsodic descriptions of handheld camera work that brought the slums of Mumbai live into the theater, they did not feel real.  I know much of the film was shot in the city, and some of the scenes were OK.  But I've been in neighborhoods like these in other countries and no matter how colorful and alive, they are sadder and more dangerous than these.  Oh, and everyone had very good teeth.  Not possible.

So why, on the eve of the most momentous Inauguration in the history of this country, am I complaining about a movie a couple of months old that will probably win many awards?  I'm not sure.  Like everyone else, I'm full of wonder at what is coming on Tuesday.  It will dominate this space for some time.  Today though, as we await the climax of this real story of triumph and ideals, the not-so-credible tale that is this film was a poor substitute.