My Thoughts: Green Book
Background Information and Synopsis
Recently I watched the 2019 Best Picture winner, Peter Farelly's Green Book, starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen. Green Book depicts the true story of musician Don Shirley and bouncer Tony Vallelonga and their journey through Dr. Shirley's musical tour.
The story starts with Tony Vallelonga losing his job because the club he worked at closed for renovations. Struggling for work to support his wife Delores (Linda Cardellini) and two kids, he stumbles upon the offer to be a driver for Dr. Shirley. Hesitant due to the need of leaving his family for two months and the musician's black skin colour; Tony takes the job and commences their journey through the racist 1960s southern U.S States.
My Thoughts
Something that I found excellent in this movie was its music, it had me captivated and set
the tone and mood very well. The classical music Dr. Shirley played was awe-inspiring, and occasionally even reflected how he felt. The film for example opens up with a small jazz band playing in a club, setting up the introduction of Tony as a rowdy and tough-guy character.
Despite being a person living in the 2020s, I felt that the movie's depictions of old racism were realistic. Aside from Tony's rambunctious personality, all the events and interactions in the movie were portrayed in a way that could feel like they could actually happen, which I think is important for a movie based on a true story. The settings. lighting and general cinematography in this movie is beautiful and really add to scenes like Dr. Shirley playing piano or Tony at home with his family. The middle and ending sections of Green Book are paced very well and never left me bored.
However, the first 30 or so minutes were entirely based on setting up characters for
development and felt very slow at times. While this background information sets up incredible scenes later, it does drag. The film only really starts picking up the pace when Dr. Shirley is introduced. On that note I wish the film would follow the perspective of Dr. Shirley occassionally. This would both serve the purpose of adding a new dimension to the development of his and Tony's relationship and ephasize his struggle with discrimination. Without this Tony may be shown as a hero in a way that undermines the themes and messages of the movie. Regardless, these are the few downsides to this fantastic film that I personally recommend watching.
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