David Thomson profiles Danny Boyle in The Guardian this week. Like Frank Rich in The New York Times (and many others to echo elsewhere), Thomson calls it the film for the times of recession, a story of rags to riches. That is; it is a “feel good” movie that is likely to lift us up in bad times. If there is a message here, it is about how povery is “written” on the bodies of the poor. The lucky coincidence of Slumdog’s success is more about how the game shows attempt to bring out the pathologies of the masses rather than present a feel good story for the Oscars season. If you see only the narrative and not its movement, its steady stealing of emotions with principles of pleasure, you miss everythiing. More on Slumdog later.
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