Crash

Paul Haggis is an incredible talent, hIs script for Million Dollar Baby was fantastic and, after a short time, he repeats his performance and twice so. His direction is brilliant as well, and thanks to him, Crash is one of the best films of the year. The mosaic-like structure of the story is very similar, for example, to 21 Grams, but here it doesn't lose any of its attractiveness or power and forces the viewer to think about every scene that unfolds. The visually cold stylization of dark L.A. is a sure bet, just like the handheld camera. (04/09/2005)

I've seen this movie a couple of times and I’m sure I'll see it a few more times because I simply enjoy it. The atmosphere and the story are nice, but what gets me the most are the characters. No one is just black or white (I mean character), everyone has been given an interesting mixture of traits, which is what makes this movie so great. I don’t think a movie like this would get away with it today, though. It does revolve around racial prejudice, but the only ones whose lives matter don't come off as complete good guys, which is where the problem lies. There were plenty of emotionally charged scenes. Thankfully, I didn't feel like someone was trying to forcefully jerk tears out of me. (23/12/2021)

Racism and xenophobia in all possible forms in cosmopolitan Los Angeles in the period leading up to Christmas. The storytelling style is similar to Magnolia, especially as far as how the separate stories end up interweaving with each other. Primarily toward the end we get a couple of really powerful moments, effectively supported by excellent music... Despite everything, I couldn’t get over the feeling that it was all too superficial and intended only for effect, which is a shame. (05/11/2005)

There are certainly a few scenes that get under your skin and make you shudder, but as a whole it’s too contrived, too "for effect" (in this respect I experienced the same feelings at the turning point in Haggis's other film Million Dollar Baby), too many coincidences that I found hard to accept, unbelievable behaviour of some of the characters. I didn’t buy it... (29/10/2005)

There are two free seats on the bus, one of them is next to a white guy, the other is next to someone with brown skin. Where would you sit? This film answers this and similar questions, hinting at the circumstances that lead to them. Is it racism or avoiding a risk from fears based on previous negative experiences? An often unnecessary but quite logical price of mixing nations together. (08/04/2009)