Best example of the power of cinema

Rating: 10/10 (24 November 2018)

Who could've ever greenlit "Green Book"? A (mostly) true story of two men of completely different backgrounds overcoming their own prejudices and the stifling racism of the Deep South of the early 1960s. We'll hire a Danish guy to play an Italian guy, and a guy best known for playing a political fixer and a dope dealer (in "House of Cards" and "Moonlight", respectively) to play a Jamaican-American musical genius. And we'll have one of the Farrelly brothers direct it. How could that possibly become a great movie? Well, it does- primarily through the great performances of Viggo Jorgensen and Mahershala Ali, and the nuanced directing of Peter Farrelly. It confronts the racism prevalent at the time without becoming preachy, and shows its main characters growing through contact with each other, without a complete reversal of their characters (which would've seemed phony). Oh, and the movie looks great, too- the period cars, sets, and costumes really take you back to that time period. A film festival favorite, "Green Book" will hopefully be appreciated by Oscar voters, too.