By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger Re-post 2019.
This is a wonderful movie. We wrote this review after the film opened in December, but now it is up for an Academy Award as best picture, and the Oscars are this Sunday on Febl 24, 2019. So we are re-posting this article for those who missed it. It also has a bit of a political back story, because there are those in our society who don’t like a plot line where a white man befriends an African-American.
Green Book is about a sophisticated black concert pianist who hires a blue collar Italian Bronx bouncer to drive him on a concert tour through the deep South. They are an odd couple, but as you might expect, they share happy, funny, and worrisome moments in the film and eventually bond in friendship.
Viggo Mortensen plays Tony, the warm hearted overweight tough guy, while Mahershala Ali plays Dr. Don Shirley, the elegant and polished musician. The film is about their two month road trip together, and, as you can predict, they run into racism. Reviewers acknowledge that audiences love this film but they are critical (that’s their job–they are critics) of the predictable events along the way.
In one scene in Alabama, Dr. Shirley is to play a Christmas party in a fancy country club, but they won’t let him in to have dinner with the whites in his party. Shirley refuses the gig, and he and Tony wind up in a smoky black bar where there is close dancing, laughter, live music, and fun. Sure enough, Don gets to play piano with the house band, and he does just fine with the boogie-woogie music, even though he is one black man who has never eaten fried chicken.
Eileen and I loved this movie. The cinematography is beautiful as they travel through snow storms, driving rain and then visit scenic areas including a field where blacks are working picking cotton. The local southern color and people are as foreign to Tony as they are to Don.
The music is of great interest since it is difficult to pigeonhole . The formally trained pianist is primarily a jazz player, but he builds his compositions on a classical sensibility. I enjoyed his playing very much.
I wanted to make my review out of still photos taken off the screen. The result is a bit blurry, but I like it, and I will try it again.
The Green Book title refers to the special book which tells visitors travelling through the South where black people may stay, eat, etc. The National Board of Review named Green Book “best picture,” and this film will be in the running at the Academy Awards. Go see it–most of you will like it. And here are some of my photos–true screen shots:
Tony watches his “boss” perform in a smoky black bar in Birmingham.
Tony and Don become friends despite inevitable friction at times.
Don Shirley off the concert stage and into the hearts of down-home folks in a place where he learns quickly to feel comfortable.
Tony makes it home in time for Christmas eve in the Bronx. Does Don join him there?
Christmas eve in the Bronx.
This music is from the fine soundtrack:
BOBBY PAGE AND THE RIFF-RAFFS: “I Love my Baby.”
DON SHIRLEY “The Lonesome Road.”