Boyle's "Million" Movies

The one and only movie I've seen in theaters recently was Slumdog Millionaire, which was playing at the tiny crap theater down the street from where I live. It's pretty much pointless to review of a film that just won best picture and has had tons of publicity. If you've seen it, you know it's good. I have no idea whether or not it deserved best picture since I didn't see anything else that was nominated. If you haven't seen it, you probably should.

Whether or not you think Slumdog Millionaire deserved the accolades it received, it's hard to deny the skills of Danny Boyle as a director. He's joined the ranks of David Fincher, Wes Anderson, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet as one of my favorite directors of the past decade or so. What sets Boyle apart from some of these other directors, however, is the sheer diversity of his movies. There's the underrated Shallow Grave (a remarkable effort for his first feature), Trainspotting, the turn-the-genre-on-its-ear zombie film 28 Days Later (the last movie I saw in theaters twice), and though I haven't seen it yet, his sci-fi film Sunshine is reportedly excellent. And then there's Millions, a DVD I got for free after sending some cereal box tops in.

Millions is dubbed a "family" film, and I'm assuming it is Boyle's only PG-rated movie. Set in Britain, a little boy finds a huge bag of money--British pounds that will be useless in a few weeks when the currency is converted to the Euro. The film follows our protagonist, Damian, and his brother, showing what they do with the money. There are elements of fantasy (Damian is obsessed with saints and talks to them throughout the movie) and crime--the money turns out to be stolen, and the thief wants it back. It's a bit of a hodge podge, actually. Nevertheless, I loved it. I'd even go so far as to say that I liked it better than Slumdog. It has its semi-cheesy tug-at-the-heartstrings moments, but they really did tug at my heartstrings. I'm not gonna lie. I cried at one point. Shut up! A movie hasn't made me do that for a while, and it actually felt pretty good. If you've been avoiding this film because you thought it was just for kids, I urge you to check it out.

The bottom line is, I knew Boyle was a solid director, but his two "Million" movies have confirmed that he'll be a force in film-making for a long while yet. I hope he continues to experiment with genres--a western or straight-up comedy might be nice--and I hope he can maintain the high standard he's set for himself.