ongoing

 Look, all this was written before the Golden Globes mania and the big oscar speculation and the wide opening of the moive ....So ... When I first heard about the plot of "Slumdog Millionaire" - a young poor man goes on India's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millioniare?" and wins it all - I thought: Look, I didn't like the damn show much when it was on every night all week (or close to it) and what would make me want to revisit a story keyed around the show - Indian, America - whatever? Well, turns out a lot. First hint: It was directed by ace Brit Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting," "28 Days") and the man is a master of shuffling time frames as well as comedy and drama. (Was there nothing funnier than "Trainspotting" fishing-the-drugs-out-of-toilet scene and nothing more awful than the results of heroin addiction?) Boyle has those kind of abilities, to pull you into another world (in this case the realm of richness, poverty and crime in India) and mix humor, love, violence and narrative in a way that makes you feel for everyone involved. Sure, the basic plot device sounds a bit daft. "Millionaire" as a window into a man's soul or the soul of a country? But it is that. The winning Jamal Milak (played by Dev Patel, in photo) is a highly sympathetic character, and he uses what he's learned in life - as amazing as it is - to answer the increasingly difficult questions on the show. (Just saw him on a late-night talk show; this Brit is witty, self-deprecating and, yes, intends to take his mum as his date to the Oscars.) These are flashbacks shown after a particulary nasty bunch of thugs (from the government, from the TV show, not quite sure) torture him to try and get him to reveal how he - a man with no education - can possibly know all these bits of trivia. Sure, some are easy. But, you know how the game goes: The higher you get to the top of the pyramid, the harder the questions get. And, sure enough, Milak has experienced something - however oblique - that tips him off to the correct answer. There's a passionate love story, a wrenching brotherly conflict, a violent look at the criminal underworld - and, really, a scene that unfolds as the credits roll that you just cannot miss. You will have been taken for a ride. Some of it grisly, some of it glorious, but you will come out with a guaranteed smile. And you won't feel cheated. Again, it's that ability to shuffle layers, stories, characters and moods that is Boyle's strength. The movie will cost you about $10. It's at the Coolidge Corner Theatre and elsewhere. (Now almost everywhere.) Check website for times.

290 Harvard St., Brookline, 617-734-2500 www.coolidge.org www.mrmovietimes.com www.mrmoviesboston.com