Well guys, today, we review a movie that I first mentioned nearly a couple weeks ago that I would be reviewing. It was a movie that I came across on TV that I sadly never made it to the movie theater for. Well, better late than never, right? Anyway, released in 2018, let’s go ahead and review Green Book, starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali.
Plot: Set in the year 1962, in New York City, a Italian nightclub employee named Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) is temporarily out of a job after the Copacabana Night Club is closed for renovations. However, Frank gets interviewed, and hired, by an African American pianist named Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) to drive him to gigs across the Midwest and Deep South, with the intent of returning back to New York on Christmas Eve. As they go on the journey for the next six months, will both Frank and Don be able to confront obstacles such as racism, and overall learn lessons from each other, and other people as well?
Wow, if you are one of those people who hasn’t seen this film that was released a year and a half to couple years ago, let me tell you that you should ASAP. Green Book does well with portraying life, and the struggles that went on back in the 1960s, and even afterwards. Not only that, but one of the things to enjoy about 2018’s Green Book is that instead of trying to have another Remember The Titans, the 2015 biography of Martin Luther King Jr., or something like that, we get to see the whole deal about racism, and other struggles that went on in this particular area through a different lenses. Honestly, it may make us wonder what started the whole racism deal in the first place. Was it because certain whites didn’t like black people around the time of the Civil War, and that seemed to carry on many years following that war? Also, why were African people so discriminated by Caucasians? These, along with a few others, are questions that people may ask as they watch this particular film, if they haven’t been wondering that already. Still, that’s not the only thing to enjoy about Green Book. There’s also the fact that the movie portrays Italian culture, as Viggo Mortensen’s character Frank, as well as Frank’s family were mostly, if not fully, Italian. Oh, and you may find yourself really in awe by the acting that occurs throughout this film. For instance, Viggo Mortensen doesn’t seem to just act like himself. He seems to immerse himself in his character, and actually act like an Italian and/or New Yorker. The same goes for Mahershala’s character Don, Linda Cardellini’s character Dolores, and many of the other actors and actresses’ respective characters. There’s also a lot of great depth with both the story, and characters. That is especially for Frank and Don. The movie additionally can also teach people how we should learn to try to listen to others, and try to see things from other people’s perspectives, instead of us just making the rest of the world see things from our perspective alone. In addition to all of these specific areas, the movie stays true to the time that this movie took place in the 1960s. Oh, how about this movie being a great reminder certain points about how we should extend kindness and gratitude to others? Finally, if anyone wants to learn how to have conversations with other people through face to face, or even letters in a more clean and healthy way, then this movie is a perfect place to learn it.
Well folks, that concludes my review for for Green Book. It is a really outstanding film that does well with portraying the struggles of racism, as well as helps people learn some very valuable life lessons from this film. The acting is phenomenal, from both the main leads and supporting cast, and you are certainly bound to also find yourself immersed in the overall story as it progresses. Have you seen Green Book yet? If not, know then that it is a must see, hands down! No doubt are people more than likely going to have a really fun time with it.
Final Grade: A+
Matthew’s Animated & Live-Action Movie Reviews 