Frosty Slumdogs and Milk
Okay, so with a break from school I’ve finally gotten the chance to catch up on all things art, especially movies and music! hooray you say? good. I got this absurd idea to write reviews from now on that are 100% sarcastic where I say the complete opposite of what I really mean for every movie I see, or some sort of exaggerated thing like that. That would be amusing wouldn’t it? Well I’ll keep that idea open for the future. As for now I feel compelled to get these reviews on cyberink so I can see some more without worrying about forgetting things etc. Regardless there’s a lot of good stuff this time of year both in theaters and now on video, so you should check it out I think. Look for a best of 2008 Movies and Music post soon, as that time of year is approaching and it’s fun to be reflective. Mirrors are exciting. It’ll be fun to do a music post soon to sort of mix things up around here, no? So here are some new reviews.
- SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE- (2008) 
Dir:Danny Boyle; Star: Dev Patel
They do not make movies like this anymore. Jamal Malik, an 18-ish tea server in India has just gotten to the final question on the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire,” but the police don’t believe that someone like Jamal, who was born and raised in the muck of India’s crowded slums without an education could have possibly done it without cheating. Jamal then reveals the story of his life as a boy through which he happened to learn the answers through experience to the questions he had answered in order to clear his name for a chance to compete for the final question. This clever device is, however, only secondary to the story of Jamal’s troubled past in the slums and the true motives that drive his unlikely quest in the hot seat. The story is timelessly simple, but the presentation is brilliantly arranged by screenwriters Simon Beaufoy and Vikas Swarup. Director Boyle’s lightning fast camera brings undernourished India to vivid life like Fernando Meirelles did for Brazil in City of God, but with an eye for both the harsh conditions and the hope-inspiring adaptations to them. The culture presented is both vibrant and exciting, complimented by expert pacing that makes the story absolutely absorbing. The film presents a rapidly modernizing India that hasn’t really been seen before in western cinema, and the cast is littered with native Indian actors who are hardly recognized outside of Asia. This makes the characters all the more real and unpretentious; underdogs to root for the whole way. Slumdog Millionaire feels unlike anything that has hit America in the last 20 years, it’s heart renderingly genuine and blazingly empowering. The story, the characters, and the themes transcend the culture and feel out of time, forever existing and forever fueling the human heart, but it never feels cliche or oversimple thanks to Boyle’s stylish presentation, the marvelous editing of Chris Dickens, and the sincere performance by child and adult actors alike. It reveals a slice of the world that everyone can relate to no matter how different it may seem. To quote Time Magazine, Slumdog Millionaire is a “buoyant him to life and a film to celebrate;” a movie that blends the traditional with the new in an excitingly real way that opens the eyes and touches the soul, all of which are trademarks of a pinnacle in modern film making.
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Milk. It does a movie good.
- MILK – (2008)
Dir: Gus Van Sant; Star: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Emile Hirsch
The roller-coaster true story about the rise of San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk in the 1970’s, as he became the first openly gay man elected to major public office. Along the way we meet a slew of friends and ominous adversaries. Eventually his tumultuous, misunderstanding-laden relationship with fellow supervisor Dan White leads to his inevitable assassination. Milk’s personal relationships are paired side by side with his public campaign, working to give intimate depth to the characters as they play their roles in the movement for equality. It’s skillfully assembled by Van Sant and company with outstanding performances all around. Penn is however, the anchor to it all, giving an utterly convincing performance that garners unwavering sympathy and respect for the character and his alternative lifestyle, while showing that the iconic Harvey Milk was all but human. The performances and direction are so good that the homosexual relationships depicted come across as they have never before in mainstream cinema; it presents homosexuality not as some deplorable or detestably bestial act but as a loving relationship equal to that between a man and a woman. It’s not some hidden relationship repressed in the characters’ minds (like in Brokeback Mountain), it’s out there and it feels tangibly real. This reality is something that the homophobic sphere of the country needs to come to grips with. Milk comes, coincidentally, at an extremely appropriate time in American history, with the recent passage of CA Prop 8 banning gay marriage among other acts throughout the country. It is clear that a significant portion of America looks down upon homosexuality to an extent where it encroaches on their civil rights. Because of this Milk the film seems to play its own part, however minuscule, in the larger movement that Harvey Milk the person acted upon. Regardless of current politics, Milk is an extremely powerful movie, superbly crafted and expressively realized with slick momentum and passion. The result is one of the best films of the year, and the emotional punch is nothing short of inspirational.
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- FROST/NIXON – (2008) 
Dir:Ron Howard; Star: Michael Sheen, Frank Langella
Sharp adaptation of Peter Morgan’s award winning Broadway play based upon a series of interviews given by former president Richard Nixon to the young, inexperienced, hot shot journalist David Frost in exchange for a boatload of money in 1977 following the recent Watergate scandal and Nixon’s resignation. Langella towers as Dick himself, imitating with precision and bringing across levels of emotional depth absent from simple public appearance, and Sheen is also good as the popular and enthusiastic Frost. Both actors completely fill out their characters with skill and nuance, partially aided by the fact that both Langella and Sheen starred in the broadway play. Framed with “interviews” with characters in the film (played by their actors) after the fact that seem both informative and a little fake. It does a good job at showing that Frost and Nixon are not all that dissimilar despite their outward differences, drilling deeper into the two personalities as the film progresses. A small, well made character study that’s certainly interesting thanks to the inspired screenwriting, cinematography, direction, and performances.
Tags: milk, movie reviews, slumdog millionaire
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