Summary:
An Italian-American bouncer becomes a driver for an African American classical pianist through the 1960s American South.
My Thoughts:
As I sit down to write this review, it is the morning of Tuesday February 28th, two days after the 2019 Oscars, of which “Green Book” was the winner for Best Picture. When this film was named Best Picture, I had not yet seen it. Honestly, the trailer for this movie told me everything I need to know, because this is a story we’ve heard a thousand times before: a man with racial biases comes into contact with a person of a different race, the two form a bond, and they both walk away from their experience changed people. It’s a sweet story and heartwar2/26/19ming. It’s also become a bit of a cliché now.
Fifty-two years ago “In the Heat of the Night”, told a similar story of a racist man overcoming biases, and that film won best picture (and deserved it more than any of the other films I’m about to mention). Thirty years ago, “Driving Miss Daisy” told pretty much the exact same storyline only with the roles reverse, and that film won Best Picture. And fifteen years ago, “Crash” told a ton of stories about a bunch of racists all realizing they’re wrong, and guess what? That took home Best Picture too.
So why do we keep rewarding these films if they run over the same ground and tell us the same things? That’s something I’d like to discuss in an article called: “Green Book: A Winner Driven by Fear.”
Below is my review. I have tried my best to keep my personal gripes about this film winning Best Picture to a minimum. This is a decent film. I enjoyed myself. But I’ll also forget ninety percent of it by next month.
“You Never Win with Violence. You Only Win When You Maintain Your Dignity.”
Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen, “Eastern Promises”) is a working class Italian-American bouncer living in New York City in the 1960s. After his restaurant closes for repairs, Tony lands a temporary gig as a driver for Doctor Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”), an African American classical pianist. Doctor Shirley’s tour takes him through the American South, where the two are resorted to using a Green Book to find places to stay- that is, a guide made by and for African Americans that detail restaurants and hotels where Shirley would be welcome. The unlikely pair forms a friendship along their journey.
As far as a story goes, this is a very enjoyable movie. Yes, as I’ve mentioned above, it feels very familiar, but it’s still a decent story. I think one thing that does set this film apart from some of the other racist-change-of-heart storylines is the fact that this isn’t a story trying to change everyone’s hearts, it’s just about a friendship forming between two people, and that friendship slowly changing both of them for the better. I also think it’s great that Tony’s son, Nick Vallelonga, was heavily involved in the making of this film (he actually was a writer for the screenplay as well as a producer, so he walked away with two Oscars). Some of the best scenes in the movie are just the two main characters talking about their different philosophies on life; discussing music, food, women… it’s those kinds of things that set this movie apart and make me actually want to revisit it. There are also some really great subtle reaction moments when other African Americans watch Doctor Shirley playing or interacting with white people, and that gives us more insight into why Shirley wants to play the Deep South; because it gives other African Americans hope for a better future.
There are some very enjoyable scenes in this film, and a lot of that comes from the acting. Both Mortensen and Ali did a remarkable job by burying themselves in their roles. For me personally, I thought Viggo’s transformation was a little more impressive than Ali’s role, which is really quite subdued. Mortensen gained a ton of weight for this movie, and throughout he shovels handfuls of food into his mouth in a way that can only be described as impressively revolting. There were a few scenes where Viggo’s performance wanders into a bit of an Italian caricature, but most of the time I was hooked. Ali does do a really good job, and I’m happy he won a second Oscar, though I’m a little surprised. I really feel like his role in this film was pretty straightforward, and he played it with great subtlety, but I can’t point to a scene and say, ‘This is the scene that he won the Oscar for.’ He’s really good at acting slightly drunk, I guess, but is that better than Richard E Grant’s devious performance in “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” or even Adam Driver’s scene-stealing performance in “BlacKkKlansman”? I personally don’t think so.
(SPOILERS ABOUT ENDING)
This film caused a bit of a fuss when it won Best Picture because of the ‘white savior complex.’ Now, I’ve seen plenty of films where the white savior complex is far worse than it is in this movie (heck, even “12 Years a Slave” has a white savior- Brad Pitt’s character is the one that eventually sends help to Chiwetel Ejiofor’s character). In fact, up until probably the last few scenes I found myself fighting against this white savior classification. For most of this film, Viggo and Mahershala are portrayed as equals. And then in the last five minutes, Mahershala realizes that he doesn’t want to be alone on Christmas, and that he needs Viggo and his family. Not only is the ‘no one should be alone on Christmas” trope used, they also imply that Doctor Shirley’s life was vacant and needing before he met Tony.
I found myself cringing. That’s not how you end a movie about people learning to be equals.
Verdict:
This is a decent movie. It is not a great movie. There were half a dozen films I can think of off the top of my head that were made this year that were better. Is it worth watching? Sure. It has some decent acting, some fun moments, and a good heart. But does it deserve to go down in history as the best movie made in 2018? No. I’m predicting now that this film will forever be labeled as one of the weird upsets that inevitably happen in the Academy’s history. Was this the worst outcome for Best Picture this year? No, they could’ve given it to “Black Panther”.
I have theories as to why this film won Best Picture, and you can read more about that in my article: “Green Book: A Winner Driven by Fear.”
Review Written By: