‘OSCAR BAIT’ “GREEN BOOK” TAKES BEST PICTURE

Another year, another Best Picture – but does that title even mean anything to the average person, aside from a general confirmation of a movie’s competency?

Unfortunately it seems the Oscars, and many other mainstream award shows, are little more than glorified popularity contests and this year’s list of best picture nominees at the Academy Awards only helped to prove that point.

Further confirming these feelings was the Academy’s decision to give “Green Book” the coveted title of Best Picture for 2018. 

Directed by Peter Farrelly, Green Book is the true story of an unlikely friendship born out of the violence and prejudice of the early 1960s.

About to embark on a tour through America’s Deep South, prodigy African American pianist Don Shirley hires tough-talking Italian American bouncer, Tony “Lip” Vallelonga, as a personal driver and bodyguard for the duration of his weekslong tour.

Though sporting very different personalities and world views, the two men form an unexpected friendship as they grow to understand each other throughout their journey, eventually becoming lifelong friends.

A thoroughly inspiring tale, this movie checks every box on the “Oscar bait” list and wastes no time beating you over the head with its trite message of equality and acceptance.

While there’s nothing particularly wrong with this film, its biggest crime is how average it is.

Viggo Mortensen (Tony Lip)  and Mahershala Ali (Shirley) do a very respectable job playing their respective roles and are predictably charismatic, but ultimately their characters prove to be rather lacking in any sort of true depth.

Unfortunately much of the same can be said of the script.

The writing in this film isn’t bad, but it sure is paint-by-numbers, proving this movie to be more of a reverse “Driving Miss Daisy” than an original piece of storytelling.

Despite these negative aspects, the direction and cinematography are competent and even quite beautiful at times, and the pacing is set up quite nicely. There really isn’t anything overtly offensive on any technical or artistic level, but in the end this film boils down to just another crowd pleaser with no real ambition to be anything more than it is.

It’s enjoyable, but it certainly isn’t worthy of Best Picture, and really, its nomination simply continues the longstanding tradition of picking the most-viewed (at least, among middle-aged Academy members who vote) and the least-hated movie, as opposed to actually picking a truly deserving film.

Advocate Staff