Pennies From Heaven
Found cash sparks boys' misadventures in smart, funny "Millions"

Money doesn't grow on trees. But it does fall out of the sky in Millions, a wonderful (as in full of wonder) family film from the ever-surprising Danny Boyle (Trainspotting; 28 Days Later). Designated children's films are often an ordeal for parents to sit through, or they try to appease grown-ups by tossing in a few hipster gags that go over the kids' heads. But Boyle's filmmaking is acute, funny, sophisticated, and full of imagination; not a kids' film per se, it's a story of childhood told from a child's perspective that beguiles viewers of all ages.

With a fine original script from Frank Cottrell Boyce (24 Hour Party People), Millions tells the story of two young brothers in northern England readjusting to life after the death of their beloved mum. 9-year-old Anthony (Lewis McGibbon) is a fairly straightforward kid. Into PlayStation and Nikes, he's reliable enough to help his widowed Dad (a wry, quietly grounded James Nesbitt) around the house, although he takes a more than usual interest in financial matters.

Sweet, 7-year-old Damian (Alex Etel) is another matter. Obsessed with the lives of the saints (supposing his late mum has recently joined their number), he loves to rattle off the stories of their martyred lives and gruesome deaths. ("Keep off the weird stuff," Anthony advises him, when they move to new neighborhood and a new school.) It's not a religious thing; we never even see the family in church. The saints are his superheroes, his Skywalkers and Bagginses, so real to Damian they're always popping up in his everyday life to kibbitz and give advice.

Like the family, the country is in a transitional period, as all of Europe converts their national monies to the Euro. There are only a few weeks left of the old year before the Euro becomes the standard. "The French are saying au revoir to the franc," narrates Damian. "The Germans are saying auf Wiedersehen to the deutschmark. The Portuguese are saying…whatever, to their thing."

Meanwhile, Damian builds himself a cardboard fort near the tracks of a commuter train that speeds past a field behind their new house. He likes to sit there when the train thunders by, pretending he's in a rocket to the moon. One day as the train rattles past, his little fort is flattened by a giant gym bag stuffed with English pounds—in excess of 200,000 pounds, as the boys discover when Damian brings Anthony the windfall and they count it. Anthony warns they can't tell their father. ("Taxes," he explains.)

After buying himself a coterie of new friends at school, Anthony explores investment possibilities. (He's leaning toward real estate.) Damian believes the money has come from God, and wants to use it to help the poor—if he can figure out who they are and what they need. But the boys' comic misadventures are shadowed by a hint of menace when, inevitably, a sinister man comes looking for the lost loot.

The story of loss and recovery is serious, as is the danger the boys are in. But Boyce has crafted a wonderfully funny script, especially when little Damian is conversing with his saints—most of whom speak in the same working-class accent as Damian's family and neighbors. "St. Peter, died 64 AD," he greets one of his visions. "Awright, don't remind us," Peter grumbles back. St. Clare of Assisi smokes a ciggie and confesses she hasn't yet run into Damian's mum up there. "But then, it IS infinite," she points out. At the school Christmas play, the real Joseph gives Damian pointers on how to play him onstage.

The fancifulness of these visions, and Damian's placid belief in them, is a departure for the normally edgy Boyle, and he handles it beautifully. (The saints have CGI haloes that shimmer over their heads like CDs.) He also keeps the story moving with kinetic and imaginative swipes and scene-changes: the boys' new house builds itself around them as they lie on the grass imagining it; as one scene ends, the next grows out of a computer screen. Yet Boyle's fresh style never overwhelms a very smart and touching story of life, death, love, and faith—however offbeat.

MILLIONS With Alex Etel, Lewis McGibbon, and James Nesbitt. Written by Frank Cottrell Boyce. Directed by Danny Boyle. A Fox Searchlight release. Rated PG. 97 minutes. (****)
Review published in Good Times, March 31, 2005