+ Best Road Movie of the Year
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| Commanding stars Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali are caught in a beautiful and striking picture on this iconic poster for Peter Farrelly's Green Book |
In 1962, New York's Copacabana nightclub's renovation cuts its chief bouncer Tony 'Lip' from his job for a couple of months, and without financial security for his family, he looks out an opportunity to work as a chauffeur for a genius pianist of color, who is determined to go on a concert tour in the segregated deep south.
Green Book is written by Nick Vallelonga (Choker (2005)), Brian Hayes Currie (Two Tickets to Paradise (2006)) and its great Pennsylvanian co-writer/co-producer/director Peter Farrelly (The Heartbreak Kid (2007)). It is based on the true story of Doctor Don Shirley's tour to the south and his friendship with his driver/bodyguard Tony Vallelonga in 1962. The title refers to a special green handbook sold to black travelers at the time, which denoted hotels and restaurants in the American south, which were allowed for colored patrons.
The film is a joy to watch from start to end; it strikes a particular, crowd-pleasing balance between light-hearted, cultural-centered fun and universal human issues seriousness. Farrelly's grasp on comedy has been proven through his straight comedies for decades, (with his brother Bobby Farrelly he has regaled comedy fans with such classics as Dumb and Dumber (1994), Kingpin (1996) and There's Something about Mary (1998)), and this proves a golden ingredient here in what could have otherwise been a didactic race-tension drama.
A couple of world class actors are up to the task in a major way, and Viggo Mortensen (A Perfect Murder (1998)) and Mahershala Ali (The Wronged Man (2010, TV movie)) both bring humanity, lightness and very dedicated performances to the film, making it a complete standout. Linda Cardellini (New Girl (2014, TV-series)) is also a joy as Tony's knowing, precious wife.
The film has a wealth of strong source music and is elegant filmmaking without a touch of pretense. It honors its story of friendship and human improvement through interaction and friendship, overcoming racism and bigotry, and it dares to be uplifting and plant a seed of optimism in its audiences. For this reason crowds across the globe are embracing and loving Green Book, - and bitter pundits are throwing demeaning white savior puns and other petty trash at this fine film, which is likely to outlive all of their animosity. Green Book has a simple, decent power that people seek at any given time. And it is also the most auspicious Best Picture Oscar winner since Steve McQueen's masterpiece 12 Years a Slave (2012).
Related posts:
Peter Farrelly: 2018 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
The day after the day after ... the 2019 Oscars
(with brother Bobby Farrelly): Dumb and Dumber To (2014) or, Harry and Lloyd: Still Dumb and Lovin' It!
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
Hall Pass (2011) - The Farrelly brothers' probably worst film to date
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
The Heartbreak Kid (2007) or, The Seven Day Itch
Dumb and Dumber/Dumb & Dumber (1994) - The Farrellys brothers and Carrey/Daniels' comedy classic
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 23 mil. $
Box office: 240.4 mil. $ and counting
= Mega-hit (has returned 10.45 times its cost by now)
[Green Book premiered 11 September (Toronto International Film Festival, Ontario) and runs 130 minutes. Tony Vallelonga's son Nick Vallelonga co-wrote the script and did interviews with Shirley before his passing in 2013. Mortensen gained 40-50 pounds for his performance. Shooting took place in New York and Louisiana, including New Orleans. The film opened #22 to a 320k $ first weekend in 25 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #6 and in 2,648 cinemas and has grossed 78.3 mil. $ to date. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets to date are China with 17.2 mil. $ and France with 10.2 mil. $. The film has one market yet to open: Bulgaria on 15 March. Shirley's family have objected to the film, but Vallelonga has said that Shirley approved what he put in the screenplay. The film won 3 Oscars, for Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Ali) and Original Screenplay, losing Actor (Mortensen) to Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody and Editing also to Bohemian Rhapsody. It also won 3/5 Golden Globe nominations, 1/4 BAFTAs, an AFI award, 2 National Board of Review awards and several other honors. IMDb's users have voted the film in at #126 on its Top 250, sitting between Ikiru (1952) and Raging Bull (1980). Farrelly has returned with Loudermilk (2017-18, TV-series), and doesn't have a theatrical followup announced yet. Mortensen returns in Unabomb and Falling, Ali in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) with a voice performance and in the flesh in Room 104 (2018, TV-series) and theatrically in Alita: Battle Angel (2019). Green Book is certified fresh at 78 % with a 7.24/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Green Book?
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