GREEN BOOK is one of my favourite movies of 2018 and easily the best film I saw at last fall’s Toronto International Film Festival. I was there the moment the film premiered at last fall’s Toronto International Film Festival and even at the Press & Industry screening I could feel a complete shock-wave through the audience and a knowing that this was a very special experience.
In my TIFF Best of article on GRM last I wrote….
Heading into TIFF I never would have thought my favourite movie of the festival would be the new movie by the DUMB & DUMBER master himself, Peter Farelly, but here we are. GREEN BOOK, which also won the Grolsch People’s Choice Audience Award, is a giant warm hug of a movie. It’s a road trip story set in the 1960s that creates the most unlikely of a best friend pairing, featuring two great lead performances by Viggo Mortensen as Tony Lip, a no-nonsense, gun-toting “public relations” bouncer who lucks into getting a job driving black classical jazz musician Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) who is doing a tour in the deeply racist south of the time.
What’s brilliant about GREEN BOOK is the absolute conviction of both Tony and Shirley and their characters; Viggo at first comes off as “dumb” and overweight and a lesser movie would have taken great joy in making fun of him, but we soon learn that he really does have a heart of gold, is a provider for his family, absolutely loves his wife and is also a true professional at his job, and Don is a well educated man who is also aware of the culture surrounding him and fights for his rights. That these opposites attract in such a way is a joy to watch on screen, and the movie gets a lot of mileage (no pun intended) out of the great performances of the two who create an unlikely but unforgettable friendship.
Mr. Farelly, who we all remember from his landmark 1990s comedies DUMB & DUMBER, KINGPIN and THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, is responsible for my biggest laughs from that era. With GREEN BOOK he has fully educated into grand storytelling, classy style as well as still keeping big laughs running throughout. This will definitely be on my end of the year “Best Of” list.
After watching the Blu Ray again I was very happy to find myself not only enjoying the experience once again but also finding fun little details passed on previous viewings. This really is a passionate and lovely story about friendship and finding your way on a road trip, and it harkens back to the classic tales like PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES where the main characters learn a valuable lesson along the way not only about each other but themselves. A fitting win of the Best Picture Oscar, GREEN BOOK is very much one of my favorite movies of the last few years.
About the Blu Ray:
This is a very faithful HD presentation very much in tune with the original theatrical presentation. Shot digitally in the now-popular 2:1 aspect ratio (somewhere between flat 1.85 and scope 2.39:1), the movie has a very earth-tone look throughout which represents the era well. Colours are very strong and black detail is very impressive across the board. I especially liked the night detail in later scenes in the movie involving winter weather which was very faithful to the theatrical screenings that I saw.
Surprisingly, there is a Dolby Atmos mix (which just downmixed to standard Dolby 5.1 on my home system) and while I don’t feel this is totally a movie that benefits from that many channels of sound, it is still cool to see that the feature is there for those who have the sound system installed. The movie is quite front heavy on its front sound mix with the great score by Kris Bowers and the soundtrack filling some of the surround use, but obviously this is not a soundtrack you intend to show off your sound system to.
The bonus features are only limited to three very quick production features focusing on the casting, filming and the chemistry between both Mortensen and Ali. For those craving more things like commentary tracks or a more in-depth behind the scenes making of features, you will be quite disappointed here as these are just quick features to scan through after you watch the movie. For me personally, this is not a big deal as I don’t usually watch a lot of special features on home video releases and am more concerned about a proper theatrical presentation on home video, which this release delivers on.
Overall: While not a Special Edition by any means, this is still a terrific addition to your home collection and one where you will definitely want to hit up a few repeat views.
