Buddy road movie has some extra sparkle

Rating: 8/10 (19 September 2019)

An Italian-American bouncer takes up the job of driving an African-American pianist on a 2 month tour in the 1960's of America's South.
This is essentially a buddy road movie bringing to mind Midnight Run (1988) and Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987). Two opposites are placed together and we witness conflict and humour and two characters growing together. So the template is set and it largely follows true as you'd expect.
What make this different is the setting. No matter what is going on there is the palpable racial tension and real threat that could dissolve this affable caper into something altogether more heinous.
This makes it more worthy, in an actual sense and that of the Oscars. This would also be my main criticism of the movie. It feels too crowd pleasing when it could have laboured further on the fight for civil rights.
Viggo Morensen and Mahershala Ali are superb and entirely convincing. Their characters evolve and grow credibly. Linda Cardellini, who i feel is underrated provides an anchor to the story and is excellent.
It's beautifully shot, as a road movie in the south should be. The period element isn't laboured beyond the opening scenes of Tony Lip in his bouncer role but is quietly effective. The soundtrack is top drawer combining Aretha Franklin, Chubby Checker etc with the very interesting, classically influenced, jazz stylings of Dr. Donald Shirley's trio.
Tonally it's hard to argue with, shifting gear effortlessly and it really is very funny indeed. I laughed out loud nearly every time they went for the comedic schtick.
For me it hasn't got the heft of an Oscar winning movie or the uniqueness and magic of e.g. its predecessor The Shape of Water (2017) but it will be timeless, pleasing and important enough to be looked upon with fondness. EIGHT