February
04
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Green Book (2018)
One of the most cliché-filled movies of 2018 is also one of the most endearing. Loaded with road film tropes and framed as a ‘journey of two unmatched souls’, Green Book (2018)is a male-centric essay on 1960s American racism that resonates today.
Rough-neck Italian bouncer Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen) is out of work at the same time that Black-American virtuoso pianist Dr Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) wants to hire a driver for a deep South tour. Tony’s reputation precedes him, and Dr Shirley knows that the trip will encounter the sort of problems that a man like Tony can handle. Their first meeting is a parody of cultural difference: the haughty high-brow coloured man in a flowing African robe seated on a throne, meets an uncouth, uneducated, and racist Italian whose belligerence promises safety.
On-screen text provides city and state milestones for the trip, and the deeper south they drive, the more racial hostility they find. Along the way, Tony’s lack of culture slowly responds to the sensitive aesthetic of the acclaimed pianist, while Dr Shirley’s arrogance is softened by Tony’s connection with what matters to ordinary people (like fried chicken and the music of Little Richard). The Green Book in the film’s title actually existed and listed safe accommodation for Black American travellers. They are modest rooms compared with those the Carnegie Hall performer wants, but they are sanctuaries from racial vilification. At other times, the predictable scenarios of humiliation include being honoured for his playing while not being allowed to eat with white people or use their toilets.
The narrative arc is tied to the tour and remains low on dramatic tension or plot twists. This is not an action-rich film, rather it’s a two-hander character study that unfolds incrementally through the insightful banter between polar opposite personalities. Tony’s regular letters to his wife become a recurring motif of mutual support; they start out with monosyllabic banalities and progress into lyrical prose, coached by the literate musician. They begin to care for each other and, when the tour is over, both are unsurprisingly better people for the experience.
The entire weight of this film rests on an intelligently humorous script and sensitive delivery by Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali. With authenticity and emotional nuance, they have synergy that is rare between males from opposites worlds. The meta-message in Green Booklies in the sad necessity that films like this still need to be made to highlight America’s tensions with coloured and culturally different people. The echoes are deafening, with films like BlacKkKlansman(2018)and If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) joining the chorus. Green Booksays more about today than the era it depicts.
Director: Peter Farrelly
Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini
CineMuseFilms 
Hi Richard. What are your views on the extended KFC product placement? Tony says, as they pass the road signage,
“Kentucky Fried Chicken in Kentucky. Where ya gonna see that?”
I think I may well be the only person bothered by this. 😉
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In my humble opinion, the KFC brand is irrelevant here. Fried chicken was stereotypically seen as a black man’s staple diet and thats why it appears. If anything, it is a racist trope. It also works well in allowing the good doctor to show his utter disgust on being offered this traditional food. Given the likely audience for this film, KFC are unlikely to sell one extra bucket of fat because of the Green Book.
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After showing initial disgust and fastidiously wiping the grease from his fingers, he finished the chicken, licked his lips and accepted more. During the entire sequence I was willing him not to do this and stay true to his character! 😉
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Its a smart directorial ploy to prolong that very moment while half the audience hopes that he resists and “stay true to his character”, while the other want him to get off his high horse and act human. I’m in the second camp. Also, Farrelly interviewed the real Tony Lip and Don Shirly, and both described in detail the KFC and other chicken-related scenes. That is why KFC is specifically included.
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Thanks very much Richard. Glad we can agree to disagree on this point. I realise mine is a minority view.
The film definitely had a happy ending.
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http://time.com/5453443/true-story-behind-green-book-movie/
I found the article! Unfortunately this does not come across in my window. Anyone interested may like to google it themselves.
Really interesting because it contradicts some of the things I’ve read. (They never actually became friends). I’m not sure which source to believe!
Still…it proves your point about the KFC though I maintain the company would have contributed handsomely to the film’s making. 😉
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Interesting review! I also enjoyed the movie, the screenplay is indeed intelligently written and the two protagonists are great!
I wrote about the movie here, if you want to have a look:
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Sadly films like Green Book keep being made yet the social issues they depict continue.
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The film comes at an interesting time… Despite what people might say about this being a film purely aimed for the Oscars, I found the companionship between the two comforting. We must first seek to understand before we are understood, and what better way to understand than being invited into their lives? I think about the state of Australia, with its various shades of racial phobias that pervade so stubbornly. And yet if we had the ability to be truly and openly invited into other people’s lives perhaps we might find that we all face the same struggles and rejoice in the same pleasures and enjoy our KFC as every second person. Yet we are afraid of the unknown and balk at reaching out… I particularly enjoyed the closing dinner scene, a reminder of what can be achieved if only we asked, or if only we accepted.
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The contemporary relevance of this film is summed up by your comment: “We must first seek to understand before we are understood”.
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