Wisdom of Nuggets

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Opening at the Nugget on Friday, Feb 6, at 6 and 8:30 PM nightly

Cast: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Anil Kapoor
Director: Danny Boyle
Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy
Length: 2:02
Rated: R for some violence, disturbing images and language
Subtitles: Some English subtitled Hindi
Academy Award Nominations (10): Film, Director, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Adapted Screenplay and two for Original Song

What’s SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE about? It’s the soaring story of an eighteen-year-old Muslim tea-boy named Jamal (Dev Patel), who, as an orphan born and raised in the poverty of the slums of Mumbai, is given a chance to change his life and balances on the verge of fortune and fame. Meanwhile, the whole nation holds its breath. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is an old-fashioned, sentimental cliffhanger to which the filmmakers have completely committed themselves. Jamal is a contestant on the Indian edition of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” But his success raises the suspicion of the police—they detain and torture him—who believe he must have cheated. His response is that experience alone, whether wretched or comic, has by chance furnished him with the correct answers, and the rest of the film, shown in flashbacks, proves him right. The film’s style is what you might call urban-manic: super-heated performances, blazing colors, and camerawork that duels with the editing for boldness and speed. The energy that is produced is impossible to resist… and make sure you stay for the dance sequence over the final credits (it’s a knockout!) SLUMDOG was the unabashed hit of the 2008 Telluride Film Festival, its first public screening.

Who is SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE for? For those who like rags-to-riches stories, exotic fairy tales, gritty realism and uplifting messages in their films. This is a rare cross-over film that appeals to almost everyone over 10.

Quote from SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE:
Police Inspector: “What can a slumdog possibly know?”
Jamal: [quietly] “The answers.”

What’s being said about SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE? “Boyle’s most ambitious film to date is also his greatest. Simply put, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is one of the best—if not the best—films of 2008, as teeming with life as the slums it depicts.” Pam Grady at Boxoffice.com. And: “Driven by fantastic energy and a torrent of vivid images of India old and new, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is a blast. Danny Boyle’s film uses the dilemma of a poor teenager suspected of cheating…. to tell a story of social mobility that is positively Dickensian in its attention to detail and the extremes of poverty and wealth within a culture.” Todd McCarthy at Variety.com

See the SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE movie trailer here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/slumdogmillionaire/