We have touched on it in the past, but there is certain films that are horrible at winning an Oscar for best film. An award of this style “forces” many to subject the film in question to fairly intense scrutiny, which can be fatal for something as deliberately inconsequential as 'Green Book'.
Traveling with a book
Depending on who you ask, one of the worst Oscar winners of the last decade, or just one of the most inconsequential (which is paradoxical for the topic it wants to touch on). Peter Farrelly makes a fairly gentle comedy starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahersala Ali that you will be able to watch streaming through Amazon Prime Video only until next December 23date after which it will leave the catalog (although it can also be seen on Netflix).
In the year 1962, the tough and temperamental Tony Lip has difficulty keeping a job given his quickness to release his fists. The situation leads him to agree to work as a driver for Don Shirley, an acclaimed and virtuoso pianist who intends to tour the south of the country, despite the risks it poses for an African-American man like him. Both will begin a road trip trying to stay safe thanks to the recommendations of the “green book.”
This book has historically helped black people easily find establishments where it was safe for them to consume. An aspect so crucial that it is worthy of being the title of the film, although its way of approaching racial conflicts seeks a perhaps excessive superficiality.
Farrelly seeks with this “important subject” to give himself a prestige that is made of papier-mâché, like an extremely flat and algorithmic photograph. Its drama lacks even the minimum acceptable for adult entertainment, although it does comply in the department of light comedy through the candid relationship between the protagonistsin addition to Mortensen's willingness to capture the antics.
It is, certainly, a film that cannot withstand such intense scrutiny as that which is supposed to be given to it. one of the most awarded films of its year. 'Green Book' could have amassed a friendlier reputation if it had stayed what it is, a soft and harmless film about two people and a conflict highlighted with a very thick line. This would probably have avoided such angry reactions as those it has generated since then.
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