Green Book

If you’re looking for a hard hitting take on race relations in America this is definitely not the film for you. Green Book is the story of musician Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) who embarks on a tour that will take him through the deep South in the 1960’s. He hires Tony “Lip” Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) as his driver but also as his security in case trouble should arise. The two men couldn’t be more different. Shirley is an accomplished musician who speaks multiple languages, dresses sharp, and has eclectic decorating taste. Tony is a street smart Italian who has a terrible diet (he is literally always eating) and is unconcerned with “culture.” The movie reminded me of critiques of The Help a few years back. Race is presented as a problem that was “solved” years ago and no longer plagues society. Spoiler alert: this is not true. It’s only semi-forgivable because of the performances from Ali and Mortensen. Their banter is sharp and at times very funny. I really enjoyed their chemistry and both of them learn something valuable from the other. Mortensen gained like 30 pounds for this role and adopted a wonderful Italian accent. Holy cow I hardly recognized him. I kept thinking, “What happened to you Aragorn?” Ali similarly disappears into Shirley, morphing into the musician and putting in an incredible performance. The film is thoroughly enjoyable mainly because of the two leading men and their chemistry. But the film is still problematic and an old fashioned and conservative take on race relations designed to not ruffle too many feathers. If you see this, see it for the great performances of Ali and Mortensen but go into it being aware of the problems with the representations.

Film or Movie: Movie

You’ll like this Movie if:
1. You want to see Aragorn plus 30 pounds
2. You want to see good acting performances
3. You liked The Help