"Millions"
Two young boys, and their dad, leave their longtime home to escape the memories of the place following the death of their mom. They move into a new community where neither Anthony (Lewis Owen McGibbon) nor younger brother Damian (Alexander Nathan Etel) knows a soul and must contend with a school system where the other kids deem them outsiders. Damian, after school, retires to his cardboard fort along side the railroad tracks and reads about the lives of saints, all the while hoping for a miracle that will help him save the world in "Millions."
Damian doesn't just read about all the saints, he actually sees them. While daydreaming in his cardboard sanctuary on day and talking to Saint Clare (Kathryn Pogson), whom he calls the patron saint of television, a large canvas bag comes hurtling right onto the flimsy structure, flattening it. When he opens up the bag, Damian finds it stuffed with bundles of used pound notes. It's manna from Heaven as far as the little boy is concerned and he rushes to tell Anthony of his extraordinary find. When they count up the loot, they realize that they have, in hand, over 200,000 pounds.
Anthony, ever the fast thinking capitalist, has visions of investments and earning interest from the money. But, Damian, who considers it a gift from God, decides to use it to take care of the poor and begins a naοve program of reallocation of funds. When he asks a neighbor, a Seventh Day Adventist, if he is poor, the guy lists what he and his friends don't have microwave, big-screen TV and all the other trappings of non-poverty. Damian's gift, we soon see, is a two edged sword as his generosity turns the recipients to rampant consumerism and greed.
We soon learn, by way of narration by one of Anthony's fellow students, about a daring train robbery that netted millions in unmarked British bank notes. The robbers packed the cash into canvas duffel bags and hurled them out of the speeding train at predetermined intervals. The thieves don't know that ground zero for one bag is atop Damian's fort. Later, when a mysterious stranger begins hanging around, Anthony figures out he is one of the robbers and tries to get him off of the scent of the loot.
Meanwhile, public service commercials (by Brit acting icon, Leslie Phillips, and his lovely, buxom assistant) hammer away at the impending day, very soon, when Britain will convert to the Euro. On that day, any pounds not converted will become worthless. Anthony and Damian desperately try to convert their booty but, without an accompanying adult, fail in the task. They decide to tell their father, Ronnie (James Nesbitt), what had happened but, before he can assimilate all the new information, their home is broken into and ransacked. Now, with all their possessions destroyed, dad decides to keep the money, much against Damian philanthropic wishes. Ronnie and his new girlfriend, Dorothy (Daisy Donovan) who Damian sees as a danger, replacing his mom in his father's eyes take the boys and, with the clock counting down, try to convert the cash into Euros.
Danny Boyle, style-wise, hasn't changed all that much since his "Trainspotting" days. He still uses fast motion photography, sprinkled through the film, to give things his signature quirkiness, but it seems superfluous here. The focus of the film is on the near-angelic little Damian, who has visions of his favorite saints replete with long conversation and theological debate with the likes of Saint Joseph (Nasser Memarzia), Saint Peter (Alun Armstrong), Saint Francis of Assisi (Enzo Cilenti), Saint Nicolas (Harry Kirkham) and what appears to be a pot-smoking Saint Clare. These moments it is never clear if the saints' appearances are the product of a child's imagination, hallucination or genuine visitation are often funny and thoughtful as they are used to help Damian sort out the dilemmas he faces with the newfound wealth.
The star of "Millions" is the youngest member of the cast, little Alexander Nathan Etel. Director Boyle elicits a performance from this diminutive newcomer that is charming and frustrating as the boy tries to do what he believes is right but just doesn't know how to go about doing it. You feel the helplessness of his brother, Alexander, as time and again, he learns that Damian is just giving away wads of cash money that Alexander sees as the means to set them up for life. Etel is a charmer and helps draw you in to the sometime uneven tale.
The adult actors, kept to a minimum with Nesbitt, Donovan and Christopher Fulford, as the mysterious and ominous stranger, providing two-dimensional backup for the younger thesps. Nesbitt, the "name" actor in the film, is given little to do and his abrupt change of heart over the money, turning to greed, does not sit right. There are a few quirky characters, like the doom-saying bicycle policeman (Pearce Quigley) who's cautionary and amusing lectures about home security foreshadow the later break in.
There are fantasy elements to "Millions" that couple nicely to Damian's unshakable faith in his saints that make this a good film for older kids. And, you get a brief history of many of the sainted icons of the Catholic religion, for what its worth. I give it a B-.
========== X-RAMR-ID: 39550 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1369908 X-RT-TitleID: 10004407 X-RT-SourceID: 386 X-RT-AuthorID: 1488 X-RT-RatingText: B-
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