Half Buddy Comedy, Half Racial Drama

Rating: 8/10 (5 February 2019)

Green Book is based on the true story friendship of Don Shirley and Tony Vallelonga. The former was a highly regarded black musician, praised for his virtuosity, and the latter a struggling family man trying to keep food on his family's table. They were an unlikely pair, and yet over the course of a two month tour of the deep south, they forged a friendship that lasted fifty years until their deaths within months of each other. It's not exactly a headline-making story, but it's one ripe for telling to warm the cockles.
Half buddy comedy, half racial drama, the meat of the film is watching these two character interact as they travel from city to city. As far as narrative pacing goes, this is probably where my only criticism lies. It's two hours of traveling montage - dramatic interaction over race - traveling montage - dramatic interaction over race - traveling montage - and so on and so forth. While each interaction is different, and each character is fleshed out more as their kinship develops, it still somehow comes off as a little repetitive once you reach the end of the second act. Thankfully the interactions are so good, either from the drama they invoke, or from the subtle comedy, that it chugs along quite pleasantly regardless.
Mahershala Ali plays Shirley with a delicate finesse that instantly places him beyond the realms of racial stereotypes. As he later shouts through tears later on in the film - in possibly one of the film's most powerful moments - he's not black enough to be black, but not white enough to be white. He lives a life simultaneously praised and downtrodden on by white people. They want him to come and entertain them, but won't let him use their toilets, or eat in their restaurant. On the stage he earns every ounce of praise, shedding his skin colour entirely, but once he comes off he's just another black man. But not even the black community will accept him. In the most poignant of scenes that displays this, the car overheats and Tony gets out to cool it off and top up the water. Shirley gets out in front of a field being plowed by a group of black people - staged somewhat reminiscent of slavery - dressed to the nines in his expensive suit. The looks he gets rightly makes him feel uncomfortable. Ultimately his unwelcomed existence leads to heaps of loneliness.
But for me the film was all on Viggo Mortensen as Tony Vallelonga (or Tony Lip as he's affectionately called). While Shirley finds a friend at the end, and a sense of belonging, Tony finds more as his previous worldview is almost entirely shattered by spending real time with a black man for the first time in his life. At the beginning, he bins two glasses used by black plumbers, while the rest of his family sit there minding the place suspiciously, giving off a racist atmosphere. In truth, Tony starts out as a not particularly likeable guy, and yet you can't help but get behind his charm. He's manipulative, brash, violent, and lacks manners, but he's also entertaining, charming, and loving to his wife and family. As the film goes on, as the friendship develops between him and Shirley, and as he becomes a little less racist as the runtime goes on, he becomes an altogether softer character who's learned lessons of dignity along the way.
Of course from some perspectives one intrinsic problem with the film is how Tony is hailed as a white saviour, and on that point I can't really disagree. Shirley would've been useless without Tony standing up for him (apart from in one instance where this gets them both locked up in jail, and Shirley has to get them out with a particularly important phonecall). Yet at the same time I can't help but feel this is more down to the nature of the two character's personalities rather than their skin colour. Tony is hired as a driver and bodyguard because he's a big guy who can take a punch, and displays a rare loyalty to his charge. Of course he's going to be the saviour, that's what he was employed to do. Shirley on the other hand is a softer pedigree of person. He values personal hygiene far higher than most, he's pampered by his butler, he lives a secluded life by himself without any real knowledge of how the world around him works. He's the type of character, black or not, that needs someone to stand up for him in difficult situations.
Finally on the note of historical accuracy; who cares? This isn't a documentary. I swear I see this about every true story adaptation, but it's a movie for entertainment, that bends the truth in order to get it's point across, and create moments of drama or humour that will enthral it's audience. It's not a blow-by-blow account of Shirley and Tony's roadtrip during those two months. It may not even be entirely truthful to the characters of the real men, but as a movie it just works. It makes you happy, it makes you sad, and ties it's characters and themes together creating one cohesive story.
Green Book was definitely a very enjoyable movie. It was far funnier than I ever expected, and that was something pleasantly surprising. Every interaction between Shirley and Tony feels natural, and the chemistry shared between Mortensen and Ali is fantastic to watch. Whether they're butting heads ideologically or comedically, or coming around to the other's viewpoints, you can't help but root for both of them and the budding friendship. I give Green Book a solid 8/10. I certainly wouldn't be disappointed if it won Best Picture.