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Though propelled into the international spotlight by the critical and box-office success of his last film, Slumdog Millionaire, a look at Danny Boyle’s career indicates a director who clearly refuses to pander to critics and audiences, and one who ably resists being pigeon-holed.
Straight after completing his studies at Bangor University, Boyle began working in the Joint Stock Theatre Company. In fact, throughout the 1980s, Boyle worked in television and theatre, and it was not until 1994 that his debut on the silver screen, Shallow Grave, was released.
Though this piece garnered plaudits on the film festival circuit, and even a BAFTA for Best British Film, it was Boyle’s next offering that acquired the status of a cinema classic.
Voted in 2004 as the best Scottish film ever made, this unabashed chronicle of the misadventures of a group of heroin addicts clearly demonstrates Boyle’s talent. Though one could never refer to it as “feel-good”, a rich vein of humour runs right through the movie as Ewan McGregor’s character dryly narrates his own story: humour mixed with a frank and, at times, painfully gritty account of poverty and addiction.
After the success of Trainspotting, the two films that followed were far less well received by the critics. Both A Life Less Ordinary and The Beach, though the latter enjoyed some box-office success, were largely panned: after the striking richness and variety of style in Trainspotting, these offerings seem rather flat.
Boyle’s foray into post-apocalyptic-horror marked something of a return to form. We see a depth to the characters that is rarely found in other examples of the genre, which can be partly accounted for by Boyle’s insistence that the film is in fact a drama in the guise of a horror film. When one combines this with the fact that it was shot almost entirely on digital video - which lends it an added air of reality - then the result is a unique experience: a zombie movie with cinematographic merit.
The zenith of Boyle’s career to date follows various episodes in the life of Jamal, who has grown up from the slums of Mumbai to be a contestant on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. The episodic recollections of Jamal allow for the cinematic equivalent of a collection of short stories, unified by the central characters as we witness their various tribulations. Much of the camerawork is reminiscent of 28 Days Later, with a palpable excited frenzy in the action sequences. However, the style and mood of the movie – as with all of Boyle’s other films – stands alone from the rest of his portfolio.
While one can draw some parallels between his movies, they are widely varied both in style and subject matter. Some might argue that because of this, Boyle has failed to stamp his directorial identity onto his creations, but I would argue that this illustrates a filmmaker who still enjoys exploring his craft. He frankly admits that because he will not move to Hollywood, where the business of filmmaking has its home, he does not think he will ever be a ‘real’ director (it is reasonable to assume that very few ‘Hollywood’ directors have directed five different productions for the RSC; Danny Boyle has). His films would also suggest that this is not the case, and his diverse past experiences in television and the theatre, as well as film, clearly influence his work today.
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