Danny Boyle/Loveleen Tandan, UK, 2008, 120 min.

The problem with a film about destiny is that you know where the story is going. That is not always a bad thing, but in Slumdog Millionaire the structure of the film allows for multiple manipulative set-pieces that drive the story predictively towards the foreshadowed conclusion.

The versatile Danny Boyle directs the faux-bollywood story of Jamal Mallik’s (played by Dev Patel) rise from slumdog street urchin to Who Wants to be a Millionaire? contestant poised one question away from the big multi-million rupee prize.

How could a slumdog know all the answers to those questions? Jamal knew them because each one had something to do with his journey. The film opens with Jamal being interrogated (beaten and electrocuted) by the police because they think he cheated on the show. The police, reviewing a tape of the show, have Jamal tell them how he knew each answer. This sets up the structure of the film. Scenes from Jamal’s childhood are intercut with the police station and the game show.

The flashbacks show Jamal’s horrible childhood in the misrepresented Mumbai slums. In scenes ranging from Jamal’s mothers death to beggar children being forcibly blinded, a feel-bad atmosphere is built to further accentuate the feel-good ending. During these scenes he meets, loses, finds and again loses the love of his life, Latika. In an effort to get her back, he goes on the game show.

It’s all painted in broad strokes. Black and white. The slums are bad. Jamal’s love is pure. We know he loves Latika because he says so. We know the “orphanage” man is evil because he looks evil. We know what the ending will be because it’s written at the beginning of the film.

Even with these issues, I can’t be too hard on the film. Danny Boyle is a smart film-maker and he knew what he was doing. He wanted to make a feel-good film and he did. Even if the viewer knows he or she is being manipulated, the manipulation works. It’s not a great pay-off, but the emotional release, although hollow and predictable, is still very much present.

Tom McCarthy, USA, 2007, 104 min.

Once you choose to ignore the heavy-handed post 9/11 paranoia parable, Tom McCarthy’s The Visitor is a standard yet effective drama. Walter (Richard Jenkins), a post middle-aged college professor, is living a lonely life. We know this because the film follows him through his day as he walks alone, eats alone, and when surrounded by colleagues out of necessity, only stares off into the distance. At home, he tries to learn piano from a string of teachers. The love of music bringing him nothing but sadness because of painful memories of his wife’s passing.

When forced to go to NYC for a conference, he makes an unlikely discovery of two impossibly perfect illegal immigrants living in his seldom used apartment. The beautiful, talented and kind Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and Zainab (Danai Gurira) slowly cause Walter’s loneliness to disappear as he develops an affinity for the native drum Tarek plays. Even if circumstances around them are a bit too manufactured, these sequences are engrossing and Walter’s change does seem genuine.

Things are going swimmingly for everyone until the third act throws a wrench into things in the form of US IMMIGRATION. Walter, who now finds himself actually caring about something, reacts accordingly. The results are mixed, but the in-your-face message are outweighed by the quiet, deliberate direction and strong performances throughout.

TC: Disclaimer: I am a fan of the novel. It’s a layered story of costumed heroes with different philosophies, and how the choices they make affect an alternate 1985 on the brink of Nuclear War. The novel is long and involved with an imaginative visual aesthetic, memorable characters, and a foreboding mood throughout. A spectacle.

Getting the characters and story on the screen is an achievement. The film hits all the right notes, and creates the right mood. The stylish opening scenes and the brilliant title montage give the background of the world. The story and characters are slowly revealed from there. At the end all the stories converge in a satisfying climax, but the real joy is in the journey.

Performances are mixed, but Zack Snyder’s direction is confident and stylish. He keeps the pace slow and picks up the action when needed. The film is somewhat different from the source material, but the story and characters were translated from page to screen with respect. It’s amazing that Watchmen was made in the studio system, and the results are very impressive and definitely one of a kind.

LCD: Despite my penchant for comic-based action movies, I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Watchmen. It didn’t fail to disappoint.  From the loins of perhaps the most over-rated pieces of literature I have read came a film that will garner similar popularity despite not being very good at all.

First, the positive: the film is visually stunning and has a distinct style that was supremely enjoyable to watch.  Its direction was so brilliant that it could stand on its own as a silent film. It was like watching poetry.

However, good films must do more than look great.  Good films have all elements working together in concert – the visuals, the story, the acting and sound, in short the entire cinematic experience – to produce a work of art.  This is simply not the case in Watchmen.  The visuals, as stated, are great. They are not supported (indeed, the opposite) by the soundtrack which was emotionally jarring and counterproductive toward setting the proper mood for several scenes. They are not supported by the consistently lackluster acting. Worst of all, the strength of the visuals are certainly not supported in any way by the quasi-film noiresque storyline with the most ridiculous plan to save the world ever put to celluloid.

Many people will enjoy Watchmen.  They will all be wrong.

Well, after a long and terrible layoff due to TCs inability to type coherently, the boys at ReelFriction are back and ready to give it to you harder and faster than ever before!  Stay tuned for an exciting first update….a Head 2 Head no less!

And hopefully, Mavis Beacon can help TC fix all of his typing issues so you, our faithful reader,  never have to suffer through a drought like that again…