“Slumdog Millionaire” is by no means the only way to really see what India is like. The Daily Helping would like to suggest a remarkable novel that captures life in Mumbai in very great detail.  The novel is ambitious in it’s scope and unflinching in it’s description of day to day life from a variety of the city’s perspectives and castes.

Sacred Games, by Vikram Chandra is an epic rags to riches gangster story. It’s also police procedural, a terrorist thriller, a love story, a tour of Bollywood, a confluence of so may amazing tangents that all seem to fit perfectly together.This is a very well written novel that can be intimidating by it’s heft. It’s a little over 900 pages.  (Now in paperback) It’s also very much worth the effort.

Check it out. If you give it a chance and just start reading you’ll have a very difficult time putting this book down. It does take some effort. Chandra is unafraid of using the local language and inhabiting his sprawling tale with many, many intriguing characters.

You’ll thank me.

The Academy Award Nominations were announced early this morning.  There were some minor surprises among those nominated and those that weren’t, but all in all it should be a pretty interesting award show.

Here are some of the major categories and a few of my thoughts on who might win.

BEST PICTURE
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
MILK
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

I really believe that Slumdog Millionaire will win the big prize.  Golden Globe momentum and some terrific word of mouth make this a big favorite.  The Reader and Frost/Nixon don’t have a chance.  Benjamin Button surprises me that it’s here. The screenwriter for Button was the same one who wrote Forrest Gump.  That explains why I found them so similar.  I think The Dark Knight should have been there instead. Milk is a wild card, but doesn’t have Slumdog’s vibrant appeal.

BEST DIRECTOR
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – David Fincher
FROST/NIXON – Ron Howard
MILK – Gus Van Sant
THE READER – Stephen Daldry
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Danny Boyle

I really think Danny Boyle will win Best Director.  The lack of leads in any of Slumdog’s acting categories lets you know who the academy considers the star. It’s Mumbai and the man who put this carnival together.  I wish Gus Van Sant could win because it would inspire him to make more movies like this…and Good Will Hunting, and less like My Own Private Idaho and remakes like Psycho.  Ron Howard did an excellent job converting a stage play to a movie. That he made this interesting is also an achievement. Personally I think Darren Aronofsky should be recognized for his move The Wrestler.  Lets see what kind of performance Mickey gives his next director.

BEST ACTOR
Richard Jenkins for THE VISITOR
Frank Langella for FROST/NIXON
Sean Penn for MILK
Brad Pitt for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Mickey Rourke for THE WRESTLER

Mickey Rourke was the only person with a Screen Actors Guild membership card who could have played Randy “The Ram” Robinson.  He’s done some trash talking about his only competitor in this category, Sean Penn as Harvey Milk.  Richard Jenkins is a character actor you’ve seen tons of times but didn’t know his name. (dead dad on Six Feet Under, for example). I know nothing about his movie but I do know that if he weren’t here…Clint Eastwood would be.

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway for RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
Angelina Jolie for CHANGELING
Melissa Leo for FROZEN RIVER
Meryl Streep for DOUBT
Kate Winslet for THE READER

Anne Hathaway should have won the Golden Globe  but Kate Winslet has been enjoying some love since the Golden Globes (despite her rambling and hysterical acceptance speech).  I think she’s been nominated quite a number of times and so this is going to put that streak to bed.   Melissa Leo is from a movie very few people have seen. (I haven’t seen her since she played a detective on Homicide back in the mid 90′s).  It sometimes feels like these obscure little movies are afforded a prerequisite spot amongthe more familiar nominees. That Happy Go Lucky actress will have to settle for her Golden Globe.

Meryl Streep, I think between Doubt and Mama Mia’, it’s hard to imagine a more ham-handed pair of performances in one year.  (Cuba Gooding comes close).

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin for MILK
Robert Downey Jr. for TROPIC THUNDER
Philip Seymour Hoffman for DOUBT
Heath Ledger for THE DARK KNIGHT
Michael Shannon for REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

It was a year ago yesterday that we learned Heath Ledger had died. The movie had not yet been released and there was talk of him winning this award posthumously.  Josh Brolin had a great year and had two great performances (he as W. in W.) It’s a shame he doesn’t win something. Downey Jr.’s nomination makes no sense.  This is more an MTV award nomination.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman could do a live action Mister Magoo and score a nomination.  Synecdoche, New York  was as hard to understand as it is to pronounce.  He’s still not going to win here.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams for DOUBT
Penelope Cruz for VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Viola Davis for DOUBT
Tarija P. Henson for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Marisa Tomei for THE WRESTLER

I think it’s between these two.  Viola Davis and Marisa Tomei. Amy Adams and Penelope Cruz were legitimate nominees, but I think Viola and Marisa are in a different league.

One thing that I really don’t understand is how Springsteen’s ode to The Wrestler, written as a favor for his friend Mickey, failed to get a best song nomination.  Revolutionary Road had only one acting nomination and it’s for a supporting actor no one has heard of.  Not a good year for Leo DiCaprio or Sam Mendes.   A few people are surprised that the Dark Knight and Wall-E failed to get more love.  Sometimes we just have to settle for huge box-office.

The movie begins with 18-year-old Jamal (Dev Patel) as he’s being tortured in a Mumbai police station.  He’s on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (apparently where the show actually originated!), answering each question correctly much to the amazement of the host and producers and joy to the millions of viewers who are identifying with this young man from the slums. He’s one question away from 20 million rupees, but the cops have been called in to uncover whatever scheme he’s pulling off while being watched by millions.

Jamal will then explain how he knew every answer, going into an often harsh and amazing recounting of his life, paying particular attention to his relationship a childhood pal/surrogate brother, Salim and his first love Latika (the beautiful, Freida Pinto) .

The unknown cast (unknown to Western audiences, at least), the mysterious world of the Mumbai slums, and colorful modern India all provide an exhilarating film experience.  This is a fanciful love story bundled in frenetic color and energy. The child actors in the early years set in the slums, set a whole new standard for  excellence and anyone  who appreciated the young cast in Boyle’s wonderful little movie, Millions, would not be surprised.

It’s worth mentioning the diverstiy of Danny Boyle’s work.  He broke out with critical and commercial success with his first film, Trainspotting.  He followed with Shallow Grave, The Beach (another disappointing adaptation of a book starring DiCaprio).  28 Days, was a contemporary take on Zombie movies and it scared the crap out of anyone who saw it.  Then the sweet film Millions, followed by a Sci-Fiction effort called Sunshine. (A little seen picture about re-igniting the sun).  He produced the sequal to 28 Days Later, called 28 Weeks Later, the Slumdog Millionaire, which could be a sleeper award winner come Oscar time.