The Olympics are the sporting event of the summer and London is the epi center of athletic dreams. Some will come true, some will be shattered, there will be tears and joy and hopefully plenty of world records, when these super-humans get going.
Last Friday participants from all 204 participating countries marched through the Olympic Stadium in unision at the openinc ceremony. Of course this ceremony had an artistic director and it was no other than English star director Danny Boyle. I’m not sure how directing Slumdog Millionaire, The Beach and 28 Days Later prepares one to become master of ceremony at the Olympic Games, but apparently he did good. So let’s take a closer look at his filmic successes after the Jump….
Shallow Grave (D: Danny Boyle, UK 1995)
The thriller introduced the winning team of Trainspotting to the screen. Danny Boyle was first time director, Ewan McGregor was still a fairly unknown actor back then and the screenwriter John Hodges had no BAFTA on his mantlepiece yet . Shallow Grave’s plot focuses on three friends (Kerry Fox, Ewan McGregor and Christopher Eccleston) whose new flatmate dies and leaves behind a suitcase full of money, and the efforts the three charismatic but despicable characters go through to keep this money. Cuts and music make this low budget production fast, flashy and fun.
Trainspotting (D: Danny Boyle, UK 1996)
Only one year later the creative team struck again and shocked the world with this story about Heroin addict Mark Ranton (Ewan McGregor). Trainspotting is remarkable for it’s depiction of the highs and lows of the drug and the struggle of Mark to get clean. You will never forget the famous „toilet scene“ once you’ve seen it and you certainly should.
Slumdog Millionaire (D: Danny Boyle, UK 2008)
After a few years without great successes this film rocketed Danny Boyle straight to world fame and a stunning 8 Oscars. Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) grew up in Mumbai and gets the chance to be on Who wants to be a millionaire. Each of the 15 question on his quest to the big money prize lead him back to an episode of his life and thus tells the viewers this in retrospect. There’s a rough childhood, a boy with a good heart and of course a beautiful girl! I must admit I didn’t love this film, when I first saw it, but yes it is a feel-good movie.