Vacation without Aggravation

Rating: 10/10 (23 December 2018)

The "Green Book" was a handbook (now, thankfully, out of print) for those of colour travelling in the southern states of the US , who want to stay in or dine at places they will be welcomed rather than abused. It is of course 1962 and Bobby Kennedy as Attorney General has racial equality strongly in his firing line.
The ever-flexible (and here, after piling a lot of weight on, almost unrecognisable) Viggo Mortensen plays Tony 'Lip' Vallelonga - a racist Italian-American living in The Bronx and working as a bouncer at "The Copacabana" club. Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali plays Dr Don Shirley - a black virtuoso pianist of high acclaim. How this odd couple meet and interact on a journey from Pitsburg to Birmingham is the heart of the film.
I'm actually loathe to say ANY more about the plot of this film. I saw this at a UK Cineworld "Secret Screening" and so went into the film completely blind about the content: which was just BRILLIANT! For this, for me, is as near a perfect road-movie as I am likely to see this or any other decade. To say it is a feelgood Christmas classic to approach "It's a Wonderful Life" is not - I think - putting it too strongly.
The film has apparently had Oscar buzz since winning the Toronto Film Festival's "People's Choice" award, and the chemistry that builds up between Ali and Mortensen is just fantastic. While I'm a fan of Mortensen ("Captain Fantastic" was a minor classic), it is Ali's performance as the gentle and mannered Shirley which impresses most, and would be my pick for the Oscar nomination if I had to choose between them.
Also truly impressive is ER's Linda Cardllini as Tony's wife Dolores: her reactions to "Tony's" letters home are just exquisite. I wonder whether a Supporting Actress nomination might be deserved here also.
The screenplay by Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga (Tony's son.... yes, this is based on a true story), sizzles with fantastic one-liners and wordplay. It breathes life into the 1962 setting by not shying away from using what, today, are highly offensive racial slurs: these might offend some, but they are essential for a film that lampoons racist behaviour so wonderfully.
Above all, it's a film with genuine heart. A story that lifts the spirit and paints onto the screen in technicolour glory the struggle (albeit you feel a rather sanitised one) that lifted America out of the dark ages in terms of equality.
It is perhaps this degree of "Oscar baitedness" - (if that's not a word then it is now) - that might be its biggest weakness in garnering support among the voters at Oscar time. It is though perhaps worth bearing in mind that it was "Driving Miss Daisy" - an odd-couple inter-racial chauffeur-based movie - that won the Best Film Oscar for 1989!
This is a film of subtlety and nuance that makes it all the more surprising that the director is Peter Farrelly. Yes, he of the Farrelly brothers of such crass, unsubtle and hilarious films like "There's Something about Mary" and "Dumb and Dumber" and such crass, unsubtle and totally awful films like "Me, Myself and Irene" and "Dumb and Dumber To"! It's like asking Mr Bean to direct a performance of Swan Lake at the Royal Opera House! Yet, here it just plain works. The comedy injected into the film (and there are a number of times I laughed out loud) is perfectly balanced with the story.
What I wanted to say here was: "Go see this film. No, REALLY. It will leave you with a warm Christmas glow in your heart to last you through the holidays. Well, it should - it did me." However, although the States already had this for Thanksgiving, it looks as if the UK general release of this film is not set to happen until the 1st of February next year. Which is a great shame and a missed opportunity. (It's as if they made a Christmas film like "Die Hard" and then released it in July! #sarcasm #yesiknowtheydid).
Seldom have two hours flown by with such joy at the cinema. At this late stage in the year, my "Films of the Year" draft list is going to need another shake up!
(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies on the web and on Facebook. Thanks).