Hey folks. Capone in Chicago here with reviews of three killer tremendous films that will be competing for screen space again James Bond. But these are all well worth seeking out and watching repeated times. That is your mission, you know, after you see QUANTUM. Enjoy...
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
There are quite a few great movies to choose from this weekend, but I believe that this one is my favorite. From a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy, director Danny Boyle (TRAINSPOTTING, 28 DAYS LATER, SUNSHINE, MILLIONS) has made the most vibrant and mature film of his career. At its core, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is a biography of a still-young man named Jamal Malik (played by three different actors, including Dev Patel, who plays Jamal as an adult), who grew up in the slums of Bombay, India, with his brother Salim. Somehow, Jamal makes it on the Indian version of the wildly popular "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" and manages to get all of the questions correct before time runs out just before he gets to hear the final question. As he leaves the studio for the night, he is arrested and accused of cheating. The investigating officer (played by the great Irfan Khan of THE NAMESAKE, THE DARJEELING LIMITED, and A MIGHTY HEART) forces Jamal to watch a tape of the show and explain how he knew the answer to each question.
This framework allows us to travel through Jamal's remarkable life through the underbelly of India, including a lifelong love with a girl named Latika (played as an adult by Freida Pinto), who moves in and out of his life over the years. There's really no reason to go into detail about some of the events that define Jamal and make it possible for him to excel on the game show. The fun of watching SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is the unveiling, piece by piece, layer by layer, of Jamal's world. His life as an Oliver Twist-like street urchin, con artist, thief, and finally an assistant call-center worker. What happened to his parents? His brother? His lady love? And does he get to come back to the show for the chance to win millions of rupees? It's all in there, and it's an exciting and electric story that will have you vibrating with anticipation. As if that weren't enough, Boyle jams his film with one of the greatest soundtracks of Indian club tracks imaginable. Patel's wide-eyed performance is a real find as Jamal, the young man who finds it impossible to lie. And Pinto's Latika is simply beautiful. I even loved the way Boyle weaves in Hindi and English--I'm guessing this is how things are in the more metropolitan parts of India--to further the authenticity of his stunning film.
You've trusted Boyle to tell great stories about heroin addicts, raging viral maniacs, and the possible end of the world thanks to the sun burning out. You absolutely must have faith in his abilities to tell the most human story he's ever embraced. This is a marvelous achievement, filled with life, danger and thrills, all of which combine to produce one of the most uplifting films of 2008. You're going to cherish SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
Known by many as simply "that Swedish vampire movie," LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is one of the most original and eerie vampire films ever made, as much for what it does not work into its deceptively story as for what it does. Avoiding all of the usual trappings of modern vampire films, director Tomas Alfredson does not give us fashion-model vampires who dress in black and look like they're on the way to a club. Instead he gives us a pale and frightened 12-year-old girl named Eli (Lina Leandersson) who moves into an apartment building with her non-vampire father. She becomes friends with a same-age boy named Oskar (Kare Hedebrant), a bit of an outcast at school who is picked on ruthlessly by bullies. Oskar doesn't quite understand what Eli is, but she's mysterious and she talks to him, so they become friends.
In the world around Oskar, people begin to disappear and get murdered, only to be found in elaborately staged poses meant to maximize blood drainage. Oskar is captivated by the stories he's hearing about these deaths, while Eli seems decidedly unimpressed (she also seems impervious to cold weather and she can climb the walls). This pair of misfits forms a sweet, non-physical romance that makes Eli feel safe enough to confess her true nature to Oskar. One of the most fascinating parts about Eli's existence is that she's not sure how old she is, but based on the age of her father, we imagine that she's been trapped at 12 for quite some time. After an unexpected turn of events, Eli determines she must leave the apartment, leaving Oskar both heartbroken and again vulnerable to bully attacks.
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (the title comes from the practice of having to invite a vampire into your home before it can have its way with you) isn't about excessive gore or standard-issue scare tactics. The film builds and earns its tension-filled moments with a careful mix of measured performances (especially moving and creepy Leandersson) and a sparse, quiet sense of drama and fear. The film is not just unlike any other vampire movie you've ever seen; it's unlike any horror film I can think of, at least in the last 20 years. You need to seek this one out and see it. It's not overly violent or flashy, but it is a fiercely scary and perfectly realized work.
JCVD
I don't think I would have believed you if you'd told me this at the beginning of the year that one of the boldest and most risky performances of 2008 would come from Jean-Claude Van Damme. But that's exactly what JCVD gives us, a self-referential work in which the Muscles from Brussels plays himself (or a version of himself) who returns to his homeland a broken and burnt-out actor, all too aware that his glory days are long behind him. He's happy to take lame movies--knowing full well they will likely got straight to DVD--because he's broke, in the midst of a brutal custody battle for his daughter, and losing most action roles to a crop of younger performers (and apparently Steven Seagal, the only plot point I wasn't buying). Director and co-writer Mabrouk El Mechri has pulled together a beautifully structured thriller plot involving Van Damme apparently holding up a bank and taking hostages, creating one the biggest news events Brussels has ever experienced.
What's fascinating about JCVD is that Van Damme agreed to do it at all. The screenplay paints him as a desperate, faded star. He's a loser who can't fight nearly as well as his choreographed, on-screen counterpart. And although I understand that this is a fictional version of the man, there's a lot of truth to this fiction. In one particular sequence from the film that I will never forget, Van Damme is literally lifted out of the movie for a brief, dreamlike moment where he directly addresses the audience. It's a stark, emotionally naked confession, during which the man actually cries quite forcefully. Aside from just being flabbergasted that Van Damme was capable of crying so convincingly on cue, I found the moment one of the most perfect screen moments I've seen all year. El Mechri adds a steely blue look to the movie that manages to make it look both otherworldly and very much a part of Van Damme's bleak world. Above all else, JCVD made me want to revisit Van Damme's TIME COP, BLOOD SPORT, UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, and a half-dozen other films of this still very athletic action hero who has a real future ahead of him as a genuine actor. Check out JCVD, one of the biggest surprises you'll have in a movie theater in recent memory.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
