The green book was a book written to “help” tourists of African-American persuasion navigate the deep south during the Civil Rights Era, a microcosm of how pervasive and cruel segregation was to the social fabric of the United States. Green Book is a rebuke against that division, forging a loving friendship between two open minded individuals. If you’re looking for the Hidden Figures feel good movie of 2018, Green Book is that film.
In the 15 years since Lord of the Rings, it appears Aragorn has let himself go and moved to the Bronx. Viggo Mortensen plays a nightclub bouncer, Tony “Lip,” who knows how to play the game and diffuse potentially hazardous situations around drunks and mobsters. So naturally, he is probably the perfect choice for Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) to escort himself through a musical tour of the South, being an African American pianist in 1962. Tony agrees, to provide money for his wife Dolores (Linda Cardellini) and his family. And so begins that Italian/African-American road trip no one expected, but everyone will enjoy.
It’s very easy to see how this movie could fall into the obvious trap of “white guy learns black guy is a person to, likes black guy’s culture, and grows into acceptance of racial diversity” that Hollywood trots out with regularity. However, Green Book uses more cultural specificity to nicely invert expected relationships and our own stereotyping. Don Shirley is not only the boss in this relationship, he commands the screen with dignity and eloquence, taking the “erudite” role away from the white guy. Conversely, Tony would rather play a game of dice outside instead of be introduced in front of one of Don’s audiences, giving him possession of the street smarts and black culture (he loves Aretha Franklin). So not only do we have a power dynamic flip in Green Book, but we have two people who don’t quite fit into what the world expects from either of them. Tony is openly talked down to and treated like a fraud, except he understands more than he lets on, and Don Shirley, though given every opportunity for personal success, is quite lonely, failing to see which culture he fits into more, if any at all. This inversion makes Green Book remain fresh and interesting, and leads to different conclusions than a normal film of this type would.
But enough of all that “what’s really going on” crap…this movie is just flat out funny. Viggo Mortensen must have jumped at the chance to play Tony, because half of the movie he’s eating some delicious piece of food. At one point, he folds an ENTIRE pizza in half and starts eating it. Being half Italian myself, Tony basically could have been one of my uncles, blissfully eating to his heart’s content and talking while chewing, while Mahershala Ali, dignified and stoic, is horrified by this “obscene” behavior he has to witness. Tony’s delights in the new world around him are perfect fodder for jokes as he writes a love letter to his wife that sounds like a 4 year old wrote it (I ate pizza. It was good. Iowa is nice. Etc.) or eating Kentucky Fried Chicken in Kentucky. I could watch a 90 minute movie of Mahershala Ali scolding people with eloquent speech, or politely asking who the musician on the radio is. The scene where he makes Tony put a rock back is 5 solid minutes of comedy gold. The chemistry between Mortensen and Ali matches perfectly, and the two bounce off each other with aplomb. Green Book does eventually get tougher to watch as we navigate the South, but director Peter Farrelly always ends up keeping the tone relatively light, usually undercutting any potential disturbing scene we might see coming, like having Tony fire a gun to scare off some robbers because Don was flashing his money around too loosely.
Green Book is a movie for a bad day. When you are exhausted or depressed with what’s going on in your life, you watch Green Book, and all your sorrow just melts away, like the ice cream cones Tony Lip would be eating. Lucky you, Viggo Mortensen. I would be telling my director “I think I got one more scene in me, can we get some more spicy sausages this time?”