{"id":5739,"date":"2009-06-01T22:17:50","date_gmt":"2009-06-01T21:17:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=5739"},"modified":"2009-06-01T22:17:50","modified_gmt":"2009-06-01T21:17:50","slug":"uk-dvd-releases-monday-1st-june-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2009\/06\/01\/uk-dvd-releases-monday-1st-june-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"UK DVD Releases: Monday 1st June 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"UK<\/a><\/p>\n

DVD PICKS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Slumdog Millionaire<\/a><\/strong> (Pathe):\u00a0In the spring of 2007 director\u00a0Danny Boyle<\/a> told me that his next film would be set in Mumbai<\/a> and was the story of a young man on the Indian version of\u00a0Who Wants to Be a Millionaire<\/a>.\u00a0But it was only afterwards that I started to wonder. Would the film be made in English? Would it be a Bollywood film? Comedy? Drama?<\/p>\n

It is a testament to the final film that Slumdog Millionaire is so many different things – a vibrant and rich journey through modern India through the lens of a Dickensian tale of love and redemption.\u00a0Adapted by\u00a0Simon Beaufoy<\/a> from the novel\u00a0Q and A<\/a> by\u00a0Vikas Swarup<\/a>, it deservedly received\u00a0a lot of buzz<\/a> and\u00a0acclaim<\/a> at the\u00a0Telluride<\/a> and\u00a0Toronto<\/a> film festivals.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s interesting is that the narrative plays a little like\u00a0The Usual Suspects<\/a>, as we learn how the central character Jamal (Dev Patel<\/a>) came to be on the game show.\u00a0It then flashes back to periods of his life growing up as a kid from the slums (or \u2019slumdog\u2019 as some less than charitable characters in the film put it) and his desire to find the true love of his life (Frieda Pinto<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Boyle and his cinematographer\u00a0Anthony Dod Mantle<\/a> don\u2019t shy away from the poverty of the slums in the film but also capture the live wire energy of Mumbai with some\u00a0inventive use of digital cameras<\/a> and a\u00a0cracking soundtrack<\/a>.\u00a0Whilst some audiences might be a bit taken aback by some of the darker sequences, they are necessary counterweights for others aspects of the story to really work.<\/p>\n

A huge amount of credit must go to Beaufoy\u00a0who has constructed a jigsaw puzzle narrative that somehow manages to hold everything together in a way that is exciting, clever and moving. Another clever touch is the realistic portrayal of the\u00a0Who Wants To Be A Millionaire<\/a> show, complete with the right music and graphics which are expertly woven into the film and play a key part in how the story unfolds.<\/p>\n

The cheesy tension of the TV show somehow has a new life here, with added meaning on the tense pauses and multiple choice questions. The film deservedly cleaned up at this year\u2019s Oscars<\/a> taking home 8 awards including Best Picture and Best Director.<\/p>\n

Both the DVD and Blu-ray version offer more than three hours of special features, including commentaries, featurettes and deleted scenes.<\/p>\n

DVD and Blu-ray Extras:<\/p>\n