Green Book (Review)

Another year, another white saviour film, and you can bet it’s gonna make a lot of white people feel ecstatic about themselves.

Green Book follows the story of an Italian man from New York, Tony Lip, who is offered a job of driving musician Don Shirley around the south of the USA for some shows. The problem? Well, Shirley is of African descent and Lip is low key kinda racist. Lip represents the average American Joe who is racist. They’ll never admit it but their actions or sometimes lack of speak louder than their words. His wife gets two African contract workers to do some repairs and being a nice person she offers them a drink. After they leave Tony throws the cups in the bin. So how is Tony going to go being bossed by an African? Well, the film often relies on moral differences between characters to create conflict.

The dynamic that ensues while on the road is often a dick measuring contest as to who has the best understanding of race relations, and the film lets the white guy get a leg up. If I used emojis in my reviews I would insert an eye roll emoji here. Shirley, a member of the New York upper class often tries to make Tony a better person. Early on Tony steals a gemstone on the ground and Shirley tells him to put it back. He also helps with writing letters to his wife. Of which includes spelling. Obviously, the film tries to do the same with Lip trying to introduce Shirley to black pop musicians (at one point Lip says “how do you not know these people? They’re your people”) and fried chicken for example. Why do black people have to do conform to an identity that is not only propagated by white Americans but white Americans have more opportunities to reject norms. Lip never gains an understanding of this though he does talk to Shirley about family and loved ones which come into play later on. I just wish the film was more about the need for friends and family than the colour of one's skin.

A jokes purpose is repeated and becomes tedious and tiresome. At first, a joke reveals Tony is a dimwitted average Joe in contrast to Don's upper-class background. Jokes rarely reveal changes in the status quo. The lack of nuance in the attempt of comedy makes it appear that the movie was written by someone who entered a formula into a computer. The layout of a scene often resembles a joke. There's a set up followed by some plot to further the movie then there's an attempt at a punchline. At the cinema, I work at we offer an Audio Description device (AD), which allows the visually impaired hear what is happening on screen. Undoubtedly could one these audience members be able to foresee the punchline as the set up is pathetically put in.

By following this copy and paste screenwriting formula it prevents the coming up with any creative transitions between scenes. Talented filmmakers are able to finish a scene on a certain note and successfully move onto the next one without changing said note. In one instance Farrelly does have a go but the tone of scenes is only held together at an attempt of a sound match cut. The sound used in each scene makes sense on their own but together it doesn't add up to more than the sum of its parts. Quite possibly less than their parts actually.

With such a story presented here the possibility of a subtle and refined approach of talks about race is immense. Sadly, not one opportunity is taken and when it seems the screenwriters want to go head on it comes off as tone death. I would like to take this chance to remind the screenwriters that because you are writing a film that takes place in the 1960s, it does not mean you are required to write with the mindset of status quo of the time. Simply put, someone has an Oscar nomination because they wrote the line "I'm blacker than you are" intending for a white guy to say it.

With all of Green Book’s inherent script flaws, the two leads do overcome manage to overcome those hurdles to give us watchable performances. Though both still have some flaws. Viggo Mortensen brings a lot of charisma to his portrayal of Tony Lip but not much else. Mahershala Ali attempts to give depth to Don Shirley and do him justice. Ali tries to fix the contradiction in the screenplay that it’s the black man that needs to change to solve racism. The attempt at remaining strong without compromising is an effort that needs to be lauded. When Ali asks Mortensen “if I’m not black and I’m not white, what am I”? He gives it his all, an actor of this talent simply doesn’t rest on his laurels, but he’s not backed up by the writing as Mortensen’s Lip doesn’t act as react with anything of meaning. Also, why doesn’t Tony Lip have a moment like this? Why is there no confession of past immoral actions? All he does (SPOILERS) is invite him to Christmas dinner with his family (END SPOILERS). Do I need another example of this deplorable approach to racism?

Having Green Book nominated for best picture the same year BlacKkKlansman and Black Panther cancels out any progress the Academy hoped to make this year (these two weren’t even the best films by a director of colour in 2018). It also shows us that the academy’s attempts at diversity and change are bogged down by the people who have been there for some time. They are also probably the ones who voted for Crash and Driving Miss Daisy. While the film has some watchable elements, the humour and attempts at nuanced conversations about race incidentally become cringe. If you don’t see this, I won’t blame you.

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What do you think of Green Book?

Green Book is in cinemas now.