Nina Dailies

After Let the Right One In, there are only two movies that I truly care about this season: Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler.
I have seen Milk, Revolutionary Road, Doubt, Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the first 10 minutes of Gran Turino. None of them come close to my "mad, pulsating affection" (as Danny Boyle said in his Golden Globes acceptance speech) for the first two films.
Just to clarify, I did not walk out of Gran Turino because it's bad or anything. I had an upset stomach and decided to leave the theater.
I have yet to find out if Eastwood's movie will have as much impact on me.


I recall having read some critic's review of Slumdog in November. It argued that the movie was primarily made by non-Indians and so whatever depiction of Mumbai life used would never be the genuine kind. It went on to say that the sentimentality of the film was nothing but a hollywood/outsider's view of India.
Wow. Desensitized, jaded, unfeeling, cynical, blinded, arrogant, ignorant, better than thou critics...
As far as I am concerned "love, the celebration of life and the triumph of the human spirit" was very much expressed in the narrative and visual of the film. It does not matter who does the telling!
Poor Danny Boyle. He didn't eat tikka masala enough for that lazy ass critic.

Some other sites did not take a liking to the dance number at the end of Slumdog. They said it was a satisfactory film until it was ruined by the Bollywood dance routine. Have these "experts" ever heard of the words tribute or homage?

Being so highly analytical of films make me such a dull and unhappy person.
I do appreciate it when Form complements Content or vice versa...I do get excited when I notice the motifs or immediately identify the long shots, the mis en scene or the different perspectives. More times though being affected by a film's story emotionally, even viscerally, is more than enough of a great experience for me. I don't stop a tear to drop just so I could ponder on Darren Aronofsky's nationality, or credibility to direct a film based on a character living in New Jersey.



Long live the heartfelt stories.