← Back to Reviews
in
Green Book, 2018
Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) is an accomplished pianist who is set to tour the southern United States with his musical trio in the 1960s. Aware that this may present certain frictions, Shirley hires the imposing Tony "Lip" (Viggo Mortensen) as a chauffeur and implicit bodyguard for his trip. As the hours on the road wind on, the two men begin to come to a mutual understanding, despite the very different circumstances of their lives.
Despite good chemistry between Ali and Mortensen, and good performances from both of them, the broad strokes of the overall story keep this one at merely decent levels.
The strength of the film lies in the burgeoning bromance between Don and Tony. They are divided by race, life experience, sexuality, and cultural capital. While the plot arc focuses much more on Tony and his increased awareness of the impact of racism, Don is the more interesting character. Classically trained at a prestigious international school, he has foregone his dreams of being a classical pianist at his record label's insistence that he play pop music for the masses. Determined to be acknowledged with the same respect that would be given his white equivalent, Don adheres religiously to maintaining his dignity. His mannerisms and habits set him apart from the other Black people he encounters, while he is repeatedly slighted, humiliated, or even assaulted by the white people. Ali does a great job of showing the way that at every turn Don must calculate the degree to which he can resist the racism he endures, and that even convenience will not cause him to compromise his principles.
Tony, by contrast, feels like more of a caricature. In scene after scene he is shocked, shocked to discover that racism is, like, a real thing. Don isn't allowed to try on a suit in a store: shocked! Don isn't allowed to eat dinner in a fancy restaurant: shocked!
The best scenes of the film are when the movie simply lets the characters interact. While it feels a bit saccharine, I grudgingly enjoyed the sequences where Don helps Tony fancy up the letters he is writing home to his wife.
But when the movie gets into more broad scenes, it really clangs. The pair are pulled over by a pair of racist police officers, contrasted with a scene back North where the policeman just wants to tell them that they have a flat tire. Tony and Don get into it with a restaurant manager who won't let Don into the dining room. In these scenes, the dialogue morphs into something horribly bland: "We have our traditions!" It's just . . . like a bad high school play.
In many ways, by stretching the story out over their whole trip, it robs the different sequences of a chance to breathe. In on particularly frustrating sequence, Don is caught by the police in a compromising situation with a man at the YMCA. Tony is called into resolve the situation, which he does by bribing the police. Don goes free with Tony, and the young man who we last saw naked and handcuffed at the mercy of a trio of homophobes . . . . who knows?! Was he also set free? Was he arrested? In the desire to move things along, moments and characters that feel like they deserve more time are instead just dropped by the wayside. If I had my way, the entire film would have focused on just a single day of the trip, actually giving the characters to develop beyond platitudes.
It's annoying, because both Ali and Mortensen bring a fun balance of warmth and quirk to their characters, and they have really solid chemistry. But the film around them really doesn't give them as much to work with. I love Ali in particular (his performance in Moonlight is stellar) and I always like seeing Mortensen. The lack of depth is disappointing.
Green Book, 2018
Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) is an accomplished pianist who is set to tour the southern United States with his musical trio in the 1960s. Aware that this may present certain frictions, Shirley hires the imposing Tony "Lip" (Viggo Mortensen) as a chauffeur and implicit bodyguard for his trip. As the hours on the road wind on, the two men begin to come to a mutual understanding, despite the very different circumstances of their lives.
Despite good chemistry between Ali and Mortensen, and good performances from both of them, the broad strokes of the overall story keep this one at merely decent levels.
The strength of the film lies in the burgeoning bromance between Don and Tony. They are divided by race, life experience, sexuality, and cultural capital. While the plot arc focuses much more on Tony and his increased awareness of the impact of racism, Don is the more interesting character. Classically trained at a prestigious international school, he has foregone his dreams of being a classical pianist at his record label's insistence that he play pop music for the masses. Determined to be acknowledged with the same respect that would be given his white equivalent, Don adheres religiously to maintaining his dignity. His mannerisms and habits set him apart from the other Black people he encounters, while he is repeatedly slighted, humiliated, or even assaulted by the white people. Ali does a great job of showing the way that at every turn Don must calculate the degree to which he can resist the racism he endures, and that even convenience will not cause him to compromise his principles.
Tony, by contrast, feels like more of a caricature. In scene after scene he is shocked, shocked to discover that racism is, like, a real thing. Don isn't allowed to try on a suit in a store: shocked! Don isn't allowed to eat dinner in a fancy restaurant: shocked!
The best scenes of the film are when the movie simply lets the characters interact. While it feels a bit saccharine, I grudgingly enjoyed the sequences where Don helps Tony fancy up the letters he is writing home to his wife.
But when the movie gets into more broad scenes, it really clangs. The pair are pulled over by a pair of racist police officers, contrasted with a scene back North where the policeman just wants to tell them that they have a flat tire. Tony and Don get into it with a restaurant manager who won't let Don into the dining room. In these scenes, the dialogue morphs into something horribly bland: "We have our traditions!" It's just . . . like a bad high school play.
In many ways, by stretching the story out over their whole trip, it robs the different sequences of a chance to breathe. In on particularly frustrating sequence, Don is caught by the police in a compromising situation with a man at the YMCA. Tony is called into resolve the situation, which he does by bribing the police. Don goes free with Tony, and the young man who we last saw naked and handcuffed at the mercy of a trio of homophobes . . . . who knows?! Was he also set free? Was he arrested? In the desire to move things along, moments and characters that feel like they deserve more time are instead just dropped by the wayside. If I had my way, the entire film would have focused on just a single day of the trip, actually giving the characters to develop beyond platitudes.
It's annoying, because both Ali and Mortensen bring a fun balance of warmth and quirk to their characters, and they have really solid chemistry. But the film around them really doesn't give them as much to work with. I love Ali in particular (his performance in Moonlight is stellar) and I always like seeing Mortensen. The lack of depth is disappointing.