Who Wants To Be A Talented Bastard?

In stark contrast to the pristine studio effort that is Frost/Nixon, comes Danny Boyle's low budget Indian shot Slumdog Millionaire.

It shares many of the things that makes Frost/Nixon great. A fantastic adaptation of a true story. Great direction that focuses on character and paces the story exhilaratingly. Wonderful period art direction that evokes a time and place.

Where Slumdog differs is the shear imagination and inventivness on show. The choice of shots, location, camera lens and filters, casting choices; it has a raw kinetic energy that is genuinely unique.

Like Trainspotting, Boyle is able to mix shocking bleakness with roar out load belly laugh humour and still make it a coherant whole.

But the genius here is the movies unrelenting feel-good factor. Its Boyle, so you know it isn't going to feel forced. But the wave of Capraesque goodwill it generates really does have you cheering at the screen come the conclusion. Better than Trainspotting you ask? Probably not...but 100 times more watchable.