Fast times tend to unbuckle the thrill of the ride. And "Green Book" slow burns a hearty buddy odyssey of an in-depth African-American jazz musician with an elite Italian-American grizzly yet warm-souled bouncer. They share succulently colored filters along the road, but their color differences blur the boundaries of a potentially skyful friendship.
From director and co-writer Peter Farelly, "Green Book" is delightfully “based on a true friendship” of family man-slash-bouncer with a funny appetite Tony “Tony Lip” Vallelonga (the masquerader Viggo Mortensen) and divine pianist Don Shirley (acted magnificently by Mahershala Ali) during the 1960's. Due to the high-class New York bar where bounces for being closed for renovation, Tony Lip becomes temporarily unemployed for 2 months. He is then hired by the outwardly cosmopolitan Shirley to be his loyal driver for an 8-week concert tour, with his co-musicians The Don Shirley Trio, along the deep Southern states of America. They navigate the south on a jade muscle cruiser, mapping viable accommodations for African-Americans according to "The Negro Motorist Green Book," a traveler's guidebook by Victor Green.
The trail seems rocky at the start for “Green Book,” with the prototypical character build-up for Tony Lip as he works the night club ensuring the security of the public facility. Mortensen impeccably sketches Tony Lip along the leading role’s fine lines -- complete with the near-seamless Italian accent and undeniable quiddities. Where other actors merely copy existing characters, Mortensen creates his own through the rough draft of the real person, becoming histrionic on-screen then dissolving into the humanism of the part. He simply is a natural.
Supplying the blood flow to the roles is the superbly bubbly screenplay by Farrelly which he co-wrote with Nick Vallelonga (Tony Lip’s real life son) and Brian Hayes Currie. Known for the wit and devilish hilarity of his and his brother Bobby’s earlier movies (such “There’s Something About Mary” and “The Heartbreak Kid”), Farrelly tones the usual naughtiness to orchestrate a congenially jocular and sentient script with Vallelonga and Currie. Where Mortensen’s Tony Lip explodes into somewhat cockily humorous every man, Ali’s Shirley jibes with his reserved but unsuspecting lovable spirit.
Along the ride to the deep South, Shirley begins to experience excavation of himself and though he quietly attempts to conceal it, the crumbs of his past shows in Ali’s worriedly apt visage. He seethes with leniency which outlines the crochet of his role, competently parading the realness of Shirley. Ali equips himself with moral nuances to convincingly portray a pianist who was tortured by society's cruel oddities.
Shirley's solemn spirit peers through Ali's eyes like daggers that cut every note in a grand symphony. The isolation of his color and sexuality is carefully studied in “Green Book” and Ali breathes life into it through his calloused line, “If I’m not black enough, I’m not white enough, and I’m not man enough, then tell me Tony what am I?” The racial and sexist abuse he had to endure across the various states viciously electrifies his fingertips as Shirley activates his hysterical eyes while still playing lovely tunes on the piano for different Southern crowds. Music drowns the smoke that clouds any rational and indiscriminate judgement. If all would only listen to Shirley’s notes as Ali jazzes on the piano, the world would perhaps continuously applaud the beauty of peace even when the pianist walks off the stage.
“Green Book” is Farrelly’s finest film to date, its swooning tunes fuels the engines of hearts. His camerawork is as fresh as it is inventive. The director limns angles that depict pathbreaking perspective. “Green Book” contains frames that conjure a view which drives a wider verdict, where diverse realties meet on the same highway albeit along distinct lanes. The comedy lunges full-throttle into understanding the gaps of initially disconnected people. Though the horizon seems as lush as the smiles shared on the road.
Director: Peter Farrelly
Trailer © YouTube.com; Universal Pictures
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