Let me be Blunt. A couple of you were nice enough to point out that I spelled Emily Blunt’s last name wrong in my review of Mary Poppins Return. Blunt not Blount. Sorry.
To compensate, I give you my review of Green Book, a phenomenal film with exceptional performances by Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali.
Green Book (Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini) – Witness was the first movie in which I remember seeing Viggo Mortensen. In Crimson Tide, his break-out performance, he played “Weps,” the waffling chief weapons officer. That led to memorable films like A History of Violence, A Perfect Murder, Eastern Promises, and Captain Fantastic, the latter two of which earned Oscar nominations. That doesn’t even count his appearances in three Lord of the Rings movies. Viggo never seems to play it safe and this film is no exception.
In Green Book, Mortensen plays Tony “Lip,” an assistant maître d’ at the Copacabana in New York in the early ‘60s. He’s a tough guy, which allows him to also be the resident enforcer at the famous club. In most ways, Tony is a total stereotype, a tough Italian from the neighborhood surrounded by a loving and loud extended family.
When the Copa closes for renovation for two months, Tony needs a job. He can do some tough guy work for the mob but that isn’t Tony. A friend sets him up with an interview to be a driver and personal assistant for Dr. Don Shirley (played by Oscar winner Mahershala Ali), a black piano virtuoso who lives atop Carnegie Hall and who is about to embark on a concert tour that includes dates in the Deep South.
These two are polar opposites. Shirley is refined, educated, talented, and persnickety. Tony is crude, uneducated, sloppy, and slovenly. Setting out from New York for eight weeks, you figure these guys won’t even make it to the first stop in Pittsburgh. But by the time they reach Louisville, they have learned to co-exist. Armed with a publication known as the “Green Book,” which specifies hotels in the South where blacks are welcome, the duo experiences the discrimination of the times. Tony overcomes his own prejudices as does Dr. Shirley but not before the musician is beaten, arrested, and refused service in the very hotels or concert halls in which he is performing.
Mortensen must have put on 30 pounds or more for the role. There is nothing subtle to his performance. Ali learned to play piano well enough to fool most viewers (Kris Bowers wrote and performed the music). But beyond the physical performances, the actors deftly managed the verbal interplay and the cultural divide. The fact that both men learn from each other through their shared experience and forge a totally unlikely friendship makes this film fun and rewarding.
Viggo is a lock for an Oscar nomination. He may even be a lock to win it. Ali could be nominated, too. He has one scene that is extraordinarily riveting.
Green Book is my favorite movie of the year so far. I hope you love it, too.