Who Wants To Win An Oscar?

(this post was written by Kyle on February 19, 2009, and it concerns & & & )

Dawn and I braved a mild snowstorm to go see Slumdog Millionaire last night. I put up a bit of a stink before we left, because I’m not a huge fan of spending money at the movie theatre for something that doesn’t absolutely need to be seen on the big screen, but had I realized Slumdog was nominated for Best Cinematography, or that it was directed by the guy who did Trainspotting, I wouldn’t have been such a little bitch.

Now, we don’t have a TV up here, so I have no idea how much play Slumdog is getting as far as commercials go, but since it got nominated for Best Picture and Best Director, I’m assuming it’s getting quite a bit. If it’s not though, here’s a quick synopsis: An eighteen year old kid from the slums of Mombai is one question away from winning “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” But someone insists that he must be cheating and takes steps to force him to admit that a kid from the slums could not possibly possess the knowledge necessary to win the show’s top prize. The story goes on from there.

Like I said, I went into the movie expecting it to be entertaining, since it was nominated for a bunch of Oscars and all that, but I was pleasantly surprised at just how good it actually was. The structure of the storytelling, the acting (especially the youngest actors), the music, the camera-work…it was all quite good.

I do have a couple of complaints, mostly circling around forced sentimentality and overdrawn “There she is! See how beautiful!” moments, but it’s a wildly romantic tale (as in Romanticism romantic), so sentimentality and lingering camera shots can be excused.

I haven’t seen the other films Slumdog is up against (Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, or Milk), but I enjoyed this movie enough that if it won, I would believe it.

On a side note, I’ll be disappointed if In Bruges doesn’t win for Original Screenplay. A friend gave me a copy of the script as a graduation present, and that thing holds up just as well on the page as it does on the screen.

One last thing on Slumdog: If you’re a fan of the credit-rolling dance parties at the end of every Strangers With Candy episode, you’re gonna love the end of Slumdog.