Note: I begin this column with an apology. Due to a typographical error in my last column Isn’t It Romantic was inadvertently given a four star rating when it should have been two stars.
I will begin by telling you Green Book impacted me more than anything I have seen since Darkest Hour (December 2017). I should have gone to see this movie when it was released last November and I’m sorry I didn’t. I recall that one of you even sent me a note encouraging me to see and write about it. I suspect that many of you have seen it already, so bear with me and maybe compare notes. This is one “whale” of a story, as meaningful as it gets. Admittedly, the language took some of the starch out, but considering the time and circumstances I could understand it. The movie is based on a true story and takes place in 1962.
Mortensen plays Tony Lip, a rough and tumble uneducated New Yorker, who works as a bouncer at the Copacabana nightclub. Ali plays Dr. Dan Shirley, an African American, highly sophisticated and a world-renowned pianist. He is about to launch a two-month tour of scheduled concerts, and is searching for a driver to chauffer him from one location to the next. In the meantime, Tony is suddenly laid off from his job and through a series of referrals ends up being selected for the job.
Green Book
Entertainment Rating: ★★★★
Rating: PG-13, should be R rated for language, a steady staccato of profanities, many of them blasphemous
Possible Oscar Nominations: Already announced and awarded, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Mahershala Ali. In addition Viggio Mortensen was nominated for Best Actor.
The tour begins in Pittsburgh but quickly wends its way south, and you can imagine the chaos that can accrue, in that day and age, when a white chauffer is transporting a black man in the back seat of the car. Actually, unless you’ve seen this film you can’t imagine the depth of bigotry, hatred and racial divide they encounter. I happened to have lived in New Orleans in the early 70s, and witnessed some of that first hand. As a transplanted northerner I couldn’t believe it, and will never forget it.
This is a two-month road trip and in addition to the usual ups and downs, we have two polar opposites in the car. Getting to know one another is one of the elephants in the room, and dealing with the antagonists in the deep south is another. Dr. Shirley has a “Green Book,” that lists all the hotels and restaurants in the southern states where the colored are welcome. How ironic watching him perform in sold out hotel showrooms where he is not welcome in their restaurant, much less rent a room. While there is some predictability along the way, there is one surprise after another as the story progresses.
Now for the absolutes:
Viggio Mortensen is absolutely one of the top actors in Hollywood. His performance in this film was masterful, and he was just as sensational in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Hidalgo, and Eastern Promises, among many others.
The music in Green Book is absolutely amazing. We watch Dr. Shirley in concert a number of times while he is on tour, the piano playing is Liberace level, and highly entertaining. The musical interludes are the glue that keeps this story on an even keel. One of the highlights is an impromptu Interlude at the Orange Bird restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama. That’s a scene I won’t soon forget.
Director Peter Farrelly did an absolutely outstanding job of bringing the viewer into the middle of the various racist barriers faced by Tony and Dr. Shirley. As the scenes progressed I began to take the issues personally, rather than as an outsider looking in. This story will stay with me for a long time.
In the meantime while you are reading this I am at the theater watching Captain Marvel, a refreshing change which I will report on next time around.
