Much
has been made of this 2018 People’s Choice Award winner which is quickly making
the rounds among film festivals copping nearly all the top awards including
Best Actor Viggo Mortensen who himself nearly dragged the picture and its award
chances into hot water over some off-color comments he made at a press
conference regarding the film’s look at 1960s southern racism. Some outright have dubbed the
semi-autobiographical dramedy about the musical concert tour Jamaican classical
pianist Don Shirley (Moonlight Oscar
winner Mahershala Ali) and New York bouncer turned chauffeur and bodyguard Tony
Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) make through the Deep South as an inverse Driving Miss Daisy.
A
film which seems to be positing itself as both a formulaic crowd pleaser driven
by the performances of the two leads as well as drawing the ire of cynics
finding ample room to hate it sight unseen, Green
Book draws its title from Victor Hugo Green’s infamous The Negro Motorist Green Book designed for African-American
roadtrippers during the era of Jim Crow segregationist laws and defines the
picture’s timeline. While the film is
garnering equal amounts of applause and boos in critical circles, with many
praising Mortensen and Ali’s acting and comic timing, few have pointed to this
topical dramedy as sporting Dumb and
Dumber and There’s Something About
Mary co-director Peter Farrelly in his first dramatic film. Arguably Farrelly’s attachment to the project
makes this the strangest pairing of serious minded material and an otherwise
screwball comedy driven auteur since Jerry Zucker was hired to direct Ghost!
Watching
Green Book feels like a typical Oscar
bait film with ounces of Farrelly’s trademark gross out gags seeping into
scenes that threaten to take viewers out of the movie. A film with little restraint or subtlety and
a great deal of Capital-A acted monologues, Green
Book manages to work primarily due to the way Mortensen and Ali play off of
one another. Broken up into episodes
marking each pit stop the pianist and his driver make throughout the southern
region, the frequently funny and occasionally tense banter between the unlikely
duo is where the film shines. Mortensen
has been out of the limelight for a while and it’s nice to see him step back
into the spotlight once again, speaking multiple languages at some points that
will remind viewers of his splendid turn in Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises. Oscar
winner Ali of course provides a terrific counterpoint to Mortensen with the two
standing up for one another and learning more about themselves than they
initially realized along the way.
While
a true story passed on by son Nick Vallelonga’s screenplay whom himself spoke
heavily to the film’s authenticity, Green
Book doesn’t break new ground or stray as far from Peter Farrelly’s
previous toilet humor shenanigans as he would like audiences to think. And yet despite going down familiar road, the
performances provide enough dynamo and entertainment value to keep viewers
interested while offering up its own perspective on the country’s segregated
past. For my money I was entertained by
this otherwise heartwarming story of friendship transcending prejudices at the
time and it does have the power to tickle you pink. More than anything, it’s an actor’s film
which proves you can have a good story true to life elevated entirely by the
people starring in it.
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki