Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

The Negro Motorist Green Book was an annual guidebook for African-American roadtrippers, commonly referred to simply as the Green Book. – Wikipedia

Synopsis
In the early 1960s, Tony Vallelonga aka “Tony Lip” (Viggo Mortensen) is in need of a job after The Copacabana, the club he works at as a bouncer is put on hold due to renovations. He isn’t left in the lurch for long, as he is offered the job of driver and protector for Dr Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali).

A renowned pianist, Dr Shirley is embarking on a tour in the deep south. Even though the upper-class white folk he will be playing for may love the sound his music, they still have a deep-set prejudice against the colour of his skin.

The road will be bumpy but their eight weeks together on the road will cement their friendship for life.

The Good
Straight off the bat, I want to say that this movie was brilliant.

The best way I can think to describe this movie is easy. There were a lot of aspects to do with race and classism that played a large part in this movie, and yet despite a couple of on the nose rhetoric, it wasn’t done in a way that felt too forceful.

With that in mind, I felt as if the story didn’t set out to change two very different people, but more so highlighted their differences, and how that wasn’t a barrier in the commonplace of respect and kindness.

Though the rest of the audience in my cinema screen thought otherwise, I thought this movie did really well in its humour. It subtly accented the drama and was born organically of various situations – I for one was cackling during the KFC car scene!

An odd but likeable pairing in Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali who both excelled in their respective roles. Viggo’s All Italian Male was spot on as was Mahershala’s Serious and above it all academic. The clear subversion in their roles as employer and employee was also another quietly effective theme.

The Bad
To be honest I don’t have much to say in negativity towards Green Book.

One thing I originally wasn’t a fan of was the movie title. However, after learning its meaning and doing further research about The Negro Motorists Green Book, I realised its deep-rooted significance in the characters’ journey.

Not a downside but a wishful thought I had about the movie; It’s a shame we couldn’t get a peek into Doctor Shirley’s childhood/upbringing. I wanted to know more about where he got the vast eclectic relics that filled his home, and how he came to live above Carnegie Hall. I feel like that would have added an interesting layer and a nice parallel to what we knew and saw of Tony’s family life.

The Conclusion

I loved the subtlety of change throughout the movie instead of there being one major disastrous event that reshaped the characters’ mindset. Furthermore, even though this is set roughly sixty years ago, I like that it still held all the relevance of today in the assumptions of how we perceive one another.