Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen
(Patti Perret)
By Johnny Oleksinski
November 16, 2018
For audiences needing a warm break from cold Oscar bait like “First
Man,” try “Green Book,” a film that leaves you feeling good instead of
like a trauma victim.
The lighthearted drama, about a road trip by two men — one white, one black — is unflinchingly optimistic.
The movie, set in 1962, is based on the true story of two New
Yorkers. Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen) is a jovial bouncer at the old
Copacabana, where he’s famed for his ability to squash fights. Don
Shirley (Mahershala Ali), a black pianist, knew Lip’s reputation, and
asked him to leave his wife (Linda Cardellini) and kids behind to be his
driver on a two-month-long tour of America.
When Shirley tells Lip they’ll be going to the Deep South, Lip replies, “Atlantic City?”
Lip is fine behind the wheel — he once did a stint as a garbage man —
but what’s more useful to his passenger is his talent for ending
conflicts with his fists. Even for an accomplished entertainer, cities
such as Birmingham, Ala., and Macon, Ga., were perilous during the Jim
Crow era of the early ’60s. The book of the title is “The Negro Motorist
Green-Book,” which helped black travelers find hospitable
accommodations.
A partnership is born: Shirley tickles the keys while Lip pummels the
thugs. And what would a road trip be without some changed perspectives
along the way?
To be sure, Shirley was unusual for his time. Back then, it was a
rare black man who lived in a palatial apartment above Carnegie Hall,
with furnishings Marie Antoinette would have envied. His friends called
him “Dr. Shirley” because he had received two honorary degrees. But he
still could have learned to loosen up a bit. The excellent Ali
(“Moonlight”) plays Shirley like Spock — with a stiff spine and
courteous chill.
Not so posh was Lip, a gregarious, funny Italian-American from The
Bronx who scraped by to feed his family. The real Lip was so
identifiably Italian-American, he later became an actor who appeared in
“The Godfather,” “Goodfellas” and “The Sopranos.”
The loving screenplay of “Green Book” — written by Lip’s son, Nick
Vallelonga, with Brian Hayes Currie and director Peter Farrelly —
doesn’t shy away from Lip’s lack of book smarts or his casual racism.
Slurs are a regular part of his vocabulary, and, for all his kindness
toward Shirley, Lip had a long way to go when it came to tolerance.
Mortensen is almost unrecognizable in the role. To become the
physically imposing Lip, a big eater, the normally slim “Lord of the
Rings” star acquired some middle girth — and a solid Bronx accent. He
finally makes you forget about his “Rings” role as Aragorn.
The ups and downs of their journey are told through terrain. They
start out in Pittsburgh and Cleveland, in nice hotel rooms and at
glamorous parties. It’s when they reach Louisville, Ky., that the first
“Colored Only” motel sign appears, and the attitudes turn hateful —
toward Italians, too. Wisely, none of their hardship ever becomes
scream-at-the-sky agonizing. Rather, the characters endure everyday
moments of oppression.
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