Cindy Prascik's Review of Green Book

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dearest Blog: Yesterday it was off to Marquee Cinemas for recent Golden Globe Best Picture nominee (and National Board of Review winner) Green Book.

 

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

 

In the early 1960s, a white bouncer from the Bronx accepts a job as driver/security for a brilliant black pianist embarking on a tour of the deep south.

 

Dear reader(s), this review will be sorta short (for me, anyway), because all I can really do is embellish on the sentiment: GO SEE THIS MOVIE NOW.

 

Green Book addresses the very serious subject of racism with humor and heart. The larger theme is obvious, but--without smashing anyone over the head--the movie also smartly tackles those little ways people convince themselves they aren't part of the problem. If it is ungracious to expect accolades, well, Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali should be extremely ungracious right about now. Terrific performances all 'round, led by two of the year's best. Though it exceeds two hours and it's hardly action packed, Green Book engages fully, earning every minute of its runtime. I laughed far more than I expected to, and I'm not sure I'll ever stop crying.

 

Green Book clocks in at 130 minutes and is rated PG13 for "thematic content, language including racial epithets, smoking, some violence, and suggestive material."

 

A timely reminder of how far we've come and why even a small slip backwards is unacceptable, Green Book is warm and funny enough that people might get the message without even realizing it. 

 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Green Book gets nine.

 

Until next time...