Slumdog Millionaire

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Slumdog Millionaire!

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 81 (2008)

Part of the reason I am doing this year long undertaking is that I am approaching these movies with fresh eyes, divorced from trends, politics and passage of time. Indeed, there's something to be said for watching a movie as just that: a movie.

However by watching this movie, it did occur to me that it's cut from the same cloth as fellow Best Picture winner The Last Emperor: Both are movies made with a non-white cast, telling a non-white story which is handled by a white director who is anything but an Oscar favourite. And, racial politics aside, both films come across as unique entrants in the history of Best Picture Oscars. 

On paper, this movie sounds awful: A movie that tells a story where Who Wants to be a Millionaire is utilised as a framework? Come off it. And the questions facing the protagonists are built around his life experiences? Are you joking?
And yet this movie works: It is well crafted, compelling and there are numerous nods to Bollywood (least not the dance sequence at the end). The cast is great and it is never once dull.

So yeah, it's a superb movie although I have to wonder that if it wasn't for this movie, Lion wouldn't exist...

Lion

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Lion!

Original image located here. Accessed 1st May 2020

Here's a local movie that, in the years since, has garnered attention to an overseas market. Granted it was a co-production with the US and the UK helping out an Australia movie but it's good to sea local talent being recognized in such a manner. That and the use of Tasmanian locations is enough to pique my interest.
That and the gf urged me to take a look.

I have to say I'm impressed with this movie. i was impressed with the story it wanted to tell. i was impressed with the use of recognizable Tasmanian locations. I'm impressed that they managed to get some name actors in (David Wenham, Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara). I was impressed with the cinematography and the use of Indian locations. And I was impressed with the central performance of Dev Patel.
I've heard this movie being called Manipulative but I don't get that. What i saw was an uplifting story told both honestly and very well. And I can't ask more than that.