‘Green Book’ is an Oscar candidate for Best Underachievement in Drama
There’s hope.
Or is there?
That’s just the beginning of the mess of “Green Book,” a movie that has very little to do with its title and everything to do with Hollywood cliché.
Usually, when a film can’t figure out which end is up, we’ve got a disaster. “Green Book” wisely keeps the pedal to the metal and somehow entertains for a robust two hours-plus. That’s the sadly compelling nature of racial conflict — and the joy of racial harmony.
This is definitely a movie about Tony, a lovable Bronx Italian, and not Dr. Shirley, an elite African-American musician. “Green Book” is a Civil Rights story from a white character’s perspective. That is an oft-criticized feature of many racial-harmony films, such as “Mississippi Burning” or “The Help.” For any given film, it’s understandable. The problem is that as these films pile up, something just feels misappropriated, as though the whites are collecting all the rewards while bearing little of the risk.
“Green Book” feebly tries to shift some of the burden to Tony. We see that Southern cops aren’t big fans of New York Italians and that Tony is capable of being slurred or arrested. Perhaps of even greater concern is that Tony’s patrons back home apparently want to enlist him for some type of work so dubious, they can’t really talk about it, and it seems Tony’s end of the stick might only get shorter the more he sides with this non-white musician.
The Southern white officials in “Green Book” will underachieve at every opportunity. The point is to get Tony to see the light, not anyone else. If you are really hoping for that man to sell Dr. Shirley a suit, you probably have not seen very many movies. One conclusion is that the Deep South is hopeless, that victory is achieved by making your point and getting out of there.
The other conclusion is that very different human beings can thrive together, if they only give each other a chance. Most, however, aren’t thrust into an eight-week road trip. “Green Book” suggests human beings put into difficult situations will rally around each other — but also that such companionship will be fluky more than anything else.
Dashing actors Viggo Mortensen (who is Danish, not Italian) and Mahershala Ali give the film its considerable life but click too easily. Each character seems to be selling himself short. Thanks to this road trip, Tony has come to appreciate some of the non-Bronx world, but it’s hard to see a similar benefit for Dr. Shirley. He is a wealthy man who is lonely and seemingly searching for something. Does he like the places he goes or the people he meets? Viewers expecting something deep will quickly have expectations muted, then utterly trampled as soon as the characters approach a Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The movie is unconvinced of its greatest potential: the beautiful scenes of the Don Shirley Trio performing in mansions, the North as well as South. There is a lot going on in these images. The audience is mostly white and wealthy but very small. The rooms of the performances are cozy. People are dressed up, having a cocktail. You want to be there. Would guests be standing on stairs for this type of performance? Just maybe, because it feels like this event might be the hottest ticket in town, an elite after-dinner gathering for a select few, listening to a pulsating, unique sound. (The New York Times obituary for Shirley says he had “his own genre.”) Do the listeners not care that Shirley is black, or are they present in spite of that fact? The camera keeps its distance from them and refuses to opine. Director Peter Farrelly prefers to show, and re-show, the white driver of a black man in a 1960s vehicle. (He also likes to re-show Mortensen in boxer shorts.) It is hard to believe that a tour of this size could generate enough ticket revenue to make it worth a record label’s time, but “Green Book” is cliché heaven, and so we have record-label suits as a minor menace.
The lack of sustained response from these concert listeners is an obvious shortcoming of the movie. Worse is that so much of the film’s oomph must be told rather than shown. Dr. Shirley’s biggest boost to Tony is in ghost-writing letters (surely Tony’s wife, a role that seems obvious for Marisa Tomei but is played by someone else, realizes these are not coming from the same person). It’s not until we hear about the Boston Celtics that we learn exactly how big of a bigot someone is. We’re also led to believe that U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy intervened on the protagonists’s behalf at nighttime on a moment’s notice.
While Tony’s heart is in the right place, his fists aren’t always. Like in “Good Will Hunting,” Tony is initially shown as a violent person. This is a very troubling personality characteristic and one that would typically plague a person for a lifetime and something that would likely get him in trouble in this type of mission. By the end, is he somehow cured? Well, he only slugs the bums who deserve it.
The fact a green book existed is probably news to most viewers of this film. What nearly all of them already know is that many films, including several new ones each year, depict people in the 1960s South who can’t all eat at the same restaurants or use the same washrooms. What “Green Book” is perhaps hinting is that there might be people in our midst who wish it were still this way. The movie probably won’t change any minds, but it does remind us there are friends out there beyond our demographic, if we only take the opportunity to look.
3 stars
(December 2018)
“Green Book” (2018)
Cast: Viggo Mortensen
as Tony Lip ♦
Mahershala Ali
as Dr. Don Shirley ♦
Linda Cardellini
as Dolores ♦
Sebastian Maniscalco
as Johnny Venere ♦
Dimiter D. Marinov
as Oleg ♦
Mike Hatton
as George ♦
P.J. Byrne
as Record Exec ♦
Joe Cortese
as Gio Loscudo ♦
Maggie Nixon
as Copa Coat Check Girl ♦
Von Lewis
as Bobby Rydell ♦
Jon Sortland
as Rydell Band Leader ♦
Don Stark
as Jules Podell ♦
Anthony Mangano
as Copa Bouncer Danny ♦
Paul Sloan
as Copa Maître D’ Carmine ♦
Quinn Duffy
as Mikey Cerrone ♦
Seth Hurwitz
as Johnny Randazzo ♦
Hudson Galloway
as Nick Vallelonga ♦
Gavin Foley
as Frankie Vallelonga ♦
Rodolfo Vallelonga
as Grandpa Nicola Vallelonga ♦
Louis Venere
as Grandpa Anthony Venere ♦
Frank Vallelonga
as Rudy Vallelonga ♦
Don DiPetta
as Louie Venere ♦
Jenna Laurenzo
as Fran Venere ♦
Suehyla El-Attar
as Lynn Venere ♦
Kenneth Israel
as Bronx Floor Repairman #1 ♦
Derrick Spears
as Bronx Floor Repairman #2 ♦
Johnny Williams
as Fat Paulie ♦
Randal Gonzalez
as Gorman ♦
Iqbal Theba
as Amit ♦
Sharon Landry
as Carnegie Hall Manager ♦
Nick Vallelonga
as Augie ♦
David An
as Bobby ♦
Mike Cerrone
as Joe and Joe’s Customer ♦
Peter Gabb
as Charlie the Pawn Guy ♦
Gertrud Sigle
as Marie ♦
Geraldine Singer
as Pittsburgh MC ♦
Ron Flagge
as Pittsburgh Chauffeur ♦
Martin Bradford
as Pittsburgh Busboy ♦
Ted Huckabee
as Indiana Stage Manager ♦
Gralen Bryant Banks
as Horseshoe Man #1 ♦
Sam Malone
as Horseshoe Man #2 ♦
Floyd Miles
as Floyd ♦
David Kallaway
as Redneck #1 ♦
James Evermore
as Redneck #2 ♦
Harrison Stone
as Redneck #3 ♦
Ricky Muse
as Barkeep ♦
Tom Virtue
as Morgan Anderson ♦
Christina Simpkins
as Margaret Anderson ♦
Kermit Burns III
as Pimento Cheese Waiter ♦
Lindsay Brice
as Frances Selden ♦
Shane Partlow
as Tailor ♦
Daniel Greene
as Macon Cop #1 ♦
Brian Distance
as Macon Cop #2 ♦
Craig DiFrancia
as Dominic ♦
Dennis W. Hall
as Mags ♦
Leslie Castay
as Well-Dressed Woman ♦
David Simpson
as Louisiana Host ♦
Jim Klock
as Patrolman #1 ♦
Billy Breed
as Patrolman #2 ♦
Dane Rhodes
as Police Chief ♦
Brian Stepanek
as Graham Kindell ♦
Jon Michael Davis
as Birmingham Hotel Maître D’ ♦
Montrel Miller
as Birmingham Hotel Waiter
Directed by: Peter Farrelly
Written by: Nick Vallelonga
Written by: Brian Hayes Currie
Written by: Peter Farrelly
Producer: Peter Farrelly
Producer: Jim Burke
Producer: Brian Hayes Currie
Producer: Nick Vallelonga
Producer: Charles B. Wessler
Exeuctive producer: Steve Farneth
Executive producer: Jonathan King
Executive producer: Kwame Parker
Executive producer: John Sloss
Executive producer: Octavia Spencer
Music: Kris Bowers
Cinematography: Sean Porter
Editing: Patrick J. Don Vito
Casting: Rick Montgomery
Production design: Tim Galvin
Art direction: Marci Mudd
Set decoration: Scott Plauche
Costume: Betsy Heimann
Makeup and hair: Geordie Sheffer, Tarra D. Day, Lawrence Davis, Sarit Klein, Yolanda Mercadel, Blythe Bickham, Oscar Gale, Jennifer Jane, Myeisha Wade, Crystal Wells, Emily Tatum, Ashley Kent Bolotte, Amanda Bravender, Jonny Bullard, Nicole Enna, Mary Ashton Honore, Courtney Jarrell, Natalie Christine Johnson, Courtney Lether, Darryl Lucas, Annabelle MacNeal, Stacey Perry, Ashley Treadaway