Green Book (2018)
In the late fall of 1962, “Doc” Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali)—a brilliant African American pianist living above Carnegie Hall—and Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen)—an unsophisticated Italian American father, husband, and former bouncer—set off on a concert tour in the Deep South. Green Book is their story. Its title refers to the Jim Crow era publication of the same name, an annual guidebook for African-American roadtrippers and a resource that Tony would need during his time on the road as Don’s driver and general chauffeur.
The film was written by director Peter Farrelly, Brian Currie, and Nick Vallelonga (the real Tony’s son), and its screenplay—while occasionally heavy-handed—serves as an essential backbone for the film that grew up around it. This is a story of plot, action, and character—with the latter repeatedly defined by the two former—and there is great joy in watching these two incredibly different people get to know and understand one another through that vital and under-practiced instrument of ours: conversation.
Green Book is funny, entertaining, and heartwarming, and, as made clear by its director’s acceptance speech for the Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) win at the Golden Globes, its 56-year-old story carries a message we could all use today. Put an underdeveloped bigot in a car with someone he thinks he doesn’t like and watch as our underlying humanity emerges. It can’t help but happen in all but the most hardened of racists. Conversation matters. Listening reveals the heart that beats within us all. Imagine if we all tried a little harder.
★★★