Underwhelming, yet fairly good

Rating: 6/10 (4 September 2009)

Seeing that this film has won basically every accolade known to humankind in 2008, I'm actually underwhelmed, especially considering how this is from the man who directed "Shallow Grave" and "Trainspotting". This time, he covers the life of a boy in India, one who competes for several million rupees in a TV game-show. His life flashes before our eyes as he is apprehended post-show, suspected of cheating, while we witness him growing up. Love, loyalty and the despicable caste-system is in focus here. I think the film was coherent, at times nearly made me cry (which isn't hard, though) but sorely missed any type of avant-garde and even - I think - a fresh view on love between the main character and his girl, which was quite supernatural in a bad way. As a collection of entertainment, this film is good, yet slightly disappointing. Including M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" into the soundtrack helped, though.