Last week I got an email from Fox Searchlight telling me that they had ‘joined forces’ to release Danny Boyle’s latest film, Slumdog Millionaire, about a poor Indian boy who wins a million bucks on his nation’s version of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire. And the timing is pretty impeccable: the movie played the Telluride Film Festival this weekend to positively glowing rave reviews.
Variety is calling the movie ‘fantastic’ and ‘a vital piece of work.’ Cinematical’s Kim Voynar calls it Boyle’s ‘best film to date,’ a very bold statement indeed, but one that must excite any movie lover.
I’m glad to see this film getting positive notices (and I expect there to be more after it premieres at Toronto), especially after Boyle’s lackluster Sunshine, a movie I wanted to love and could only appreciate in parts (including what should have been a star-making performance from Chris Evans). And I’m glad to see it getting good notices because my soul needs good movies after the summer season of entertaining diversions. It’ll be nice to break out my top ten of the year list again after putting it away a couple of months ago.
Slumdog seems to be kin to Millions, another wonderful Boyle film. Could he be doing a trilogy of uplifting films about kids and money?