Millions
UPDATE: I had to watch the movie a second time and remove from my head the idea that Danny Boyle is the director, but that's what it took for me to love the movie.
The imagination of the people that made this movie in incredible, displayed on screen by the two perfectly portrayed kids. One bribing the kids in his new school so they would be his friend and work for him, and also planning ways to make the money worthy after the currency change from British Pounds to Euros, like buying properties or change it into American Dollars.
The other kid has more pure ideas, since the money was an 'Act of God', and so he wants to make good deeds or miracles in order to be an Angel when he goes to Heaven just like he hopes his Mom did. And I love the Saints idea now, and it was used, advicing him what to do with the money. I guess I really felt the magic with this second viewing.
Oh wait, Danny Boyle is the director? Bravo.
This was my kind of negative review from last month:
You're Danny Boyle, you had a breakout hit with your horror (not zombie!) movie back in 2002 and you are picking your next project, Millions (written by Frank Cottrell Boyce), a drama about 2 children finding stolen money and what they go through with it, all set in an unusual religious background. Odd choice, and the result, disappointing.
Alexander Nathan Etel plays Damian and Lewis Owen McGibbon plays Anthony, two little kids that move to a new place with his father after their mother dies. Damian is the younger one, and his imagination is bigger than anything. He's also cute as hell with his little freckles in his face. Add his British accent and you have the cutest kid ever, until he started annoying me with his religious stuff. The kid is crazy for Saints, and he imagines lots of them, and he knows everything about them too, always stating their names, date of birth and death, and the miracle they did to became Saints. Damian is looking for his Mom, and so he asks all these Saints if they know her, always getting a negative response.
The title of the movie refers to the money Damian encounters while day dreaming one time, but it's real, even though he can't believe at first, so he tells his brother Anthony for confirmation. After realizing all the money they have (they even count it!) they start spending it, in different ways though.
Anthony, being older and less innocent, starts buying stuff, even buying friends (they didn't have any at their new school since they just moved in) which turns into one of the best parts of the movie making me remember Donnie Darko's introductory high school scene with the music and all.
Damian has other ideas on how to use the money: to make good deeds. Yes, He starts giving money away, buying stuff for people he doesn't know, donating money, even his Saints ask him for stuff.
All this ends when someone comes to claim the money, and we learn that the money is stolen and not an 'Act of God' like Damian was thinking.
We get here the only other cool scene of the movie as we see how the money was stolen, filmed in the same style as Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. After this we get the kids dealing with the problem of what to do, while Damian keeps talking to his Saints.The movie is fine, good performances, but I really didn't like the whole Damian talking to the Saints idea and how it was used, and I think they should have made the movie about Anthony and his story, as he gets to do all the stuff I was thinking I would do if I found that money, and that's what I wanted to see here.
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