It must be exhausting being Danny Boyle. Judging by his frenetic yet coherent filmmaking aesthetic, he must never stop moving, thinking, twitching, or doing. He’s a restless artist, interested in telling propulsive stories through a break-neck sense of pacing and stylistic ferocity. His “kids movie” from 2004, the obscenely underrated Millions, is one of the edgiest, most subversive PG-rated efforts that I can think of, and a film that explodes with a creative burst of technical energy and narrative surprise. This delightful piece of work centers on eight year old Damian (the terrific Alex Etel), a Catholic school student who lives with his father (the wonderful James Nesbitt) and his brother Anthony (Lewis McGibbon, excellent), and whose mother has recently passed away. Then, one day, while allowing his active imagination to take center stage (he’s constantly having surreal discussions with various saints from throughout history), he has the happiest of accidents: A cash-stuffed duffel bag somehow lands directly on top of his cardboard fort, seemingly thrown from a passing train. Unsure of what to do with the money at first, Damian shows Anthony his discovery, and the two brothers decide to keep it a secret. Which proves hard. Very hard. And then, somewhat menacingly, they must contend with the original owner of the duffel bag, who has some very good reasons for wanting all of his money back. The exceedingly imaginative script was adapted by the writer Frank Cottrell Boyce (who also wrote the novel), who fills the narrative with surprise after surprise, tons of great dialogue, and a willingness to bend the expectations of a children’s film at almost every turn. This is the only Danny Boyle film not to be rated R (at least that I can think of off the top of my head) and yet it still feels totally within his cinematic worldview; this is a lightning-quick piece of storytelling that’s clearly in love with the endless possibilities that the medium can offer on a visual level. The tremendous cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle shot the film in a gorgeous yet gritty fashion, injecting bold color and photographic expressiveness to convey feeling and mood. Etel’s dialogue-heavy performance is one of the best I’ve ever seen from a youngster on screen, and because Boyce’s smart screenplay is so deep where it counts, you come to adore both Damian and Anthony and their father, resulting in a film that feels extremely heartfelt while also clearly made with a zest for form and technique. This is easily one of Boyle’s best films and the one that gets the least amount of acclaim or attention.
Podcasting Them Softly 