Green Book

An easygoing road-movie with strong characters (Mortensen steals the show), a convincing period atmosphere, and dialogues that don’t hurt, at least to watch once. But the “conflict” that the film offers is so unoriginal and fake that it buries the quality of the whole lot. The development of Tony’s racist views are almost invisible and the script is basically a series of stops at moral clichés and shoddy motifs (the cop on the road, the “white” restaurant). There was potential and I can praise Farrelly for the fact that I rooted for protagonists, but that’s not enough to make an above-par social drama. 60% (25/01/2019)

An overly calculated and sure-footed Oscar-winning film that ticks off the likely situations to come, and they do come, including the pathetic ending. But the dialogues between Tony and Shirley are hilariously written, there's a great spark between them and I laughed my heart out at times. Viggo plays my peer, always eating like me, getting a pot belly like me, just cute. I'd like him to win an Oscar, more than Rami "look-at-my-brutal-attempt" Malek, and more than Ali, who to me is an actor of one expression. (02/08/2019)

Miss Daisy's driver upside down. A nice, sadly funny and non-conflicting humanly warm film on a serious topic. Just saying nothing that other similarly nice, sadly funny and non-conflicting humanly warm images wouldn't have said already with an equally nice, sadly funny and non-conflicting humanly warm taste. It's not an average movie just because of the working dynamics of the central duo; even if one has to get used to Mortensen in “a true Italian almost parody mode". (27/01/2019)

"Driving Mr. Mahershala"? Too bad that Viggo had to fight Rami Malek for the Oscar, as the jury couldn’t give it to anyone else but Rami. Here, Viggo put on a remarkable performance, just like in Eastern Promises. Mahershala is also great. The movie itself, however, is a dime-a-dozen Hollywood template, with a good heart and gorgeous narrative but without a hint of filmmaking inventiveness. (06/03/2019)

If American Beauty offered a sophisticated, often subtle and graceful critique of the American middle class, Green Book, in a similarly bittersweet vein, presents the issues of racism in 1960s America, unassumingly, without relying on pathos, witty and with just enough insight. Viggo Mortensen dominates with his De Niro accent and redneck diction, Ali got the Oscar because he's black. For a film that is mostly about the interaction of two characters, it is brisk, fresh and entertaining. (03/03/2019)