Crash
The movie Crash is running right now on FX. I've seen the movie before, I saw it when it was originally released. It won 3 oscars, including Best Picture of 2005. I liked it and am going to watch it again. I'm doing some other stuff while I'm watching but I'll go ahead and kind of live blog a review of it. It's racial themes are probably one reason it won Best Picture.
It starts out with a car crash during opening credits. The characters introduced during that crash are an Asian woman, a Hispanic police detective, and a black police detective. The Asian woman and the female cop exchange a few racially charged words.
The next scene is an Arab (actually Iranian it turns out) guy trying to buy some bullets in a gun shop, but he doesn't speak English very well, so his daughter buys them for him.
Scene three is two young black guys walking out of a restaurant complaining about the poor service they got because of their race. Then they car jack an upscale couple on the street.
It's a movie of racial conflict if those initial introductory scenes haven't clued you in. It is a little heavy handed.
The story doesn't really start until the fourth scene when the two cops (the woman and the black guy) are investigating a shooting between an undercover cop and a couple of black guys in a Mercedes (the hijacked car).
Roger Ebert gives it 4 stars. Here's what Roger Ebert says about the movie
The movie isnt' really very linear and I'm only partially watching it. I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't seen the movie before I'd have no idea what I'm watching. So I'm going to stop blogging.
It is a good movie. But you need to pay attention and I'm not doing that right now.
It starts out with a car crash during opening credits. The characters introduced during that crash are an Asian woman, a Hispanic police detective, and a black police detective. The Asian woman and the female cop exchange a few racially charged words.
The next scene is an Arab (actually Iranian it turns out) guy trying to buy some bullets in a gun shop, but he doesn't speak English very well, so his daughter buys them for him.
Scene three is two young black guys walking out of a restaurant complaining about the poor service they got because of their race. Then they car jack an upscale couple on the street.
It's a movie of racial conflict if those initial introductory scenes haven't clued you in. It is a little heavy handed.
The story doesn't really start until the fourth scene when the two cops (the woman and the black guy) are investigating a shooting between an undercover cop and a couple of black guys in a Mercedes (the hijacked car).
Roger Ebert gives it 4 stars. Here's what Roger Ebert says about the movie
"Crash" tells interlocking stories of whites, blacks, Latinos, Koreans, Iranians, cops and criminals, the rich and the poor, the powerful and powerless, all defined in one way or another by racism. All are victims of it, and all are guilty it. Sometimes, yes, they rise above it, although it is never that simple. Their negative impulses may be instinctive, their positive impulses may be dangerous, and who knows what the other person is thinking?
The result is a movie of intense fascination; we understand quickly enough who the characters are and what their lives are like, but we have no idea how they will behave, because so much depends on accident.
The movie isnt' really very linear and I'm only partially watching it. I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't seen the movie before I'd have no idea what I'm watching. So I'm going to stop blogging.
It is a good movie. But you need to pay attention and I'm not doing that right now.
Labels: movies
posted by Gary Carson at 2:35 PM
1 Comments:
Great movie. I agree.
I was watching it at the same time you were, but it wasn't the first time for me.
The non-linear presentation is outstanding.
The stereotypes seem exaggerated but are actually probably pretty close representations of real attitudes albeit not of open expression.
It's an important movie they'll be using in Sociology classes 100 years from now to illustrate early 21s century attitudes about race.
If you liked Crash, I highly recommend you watch 12 Angry Men. There is an old version with Jimmy Stewart and a newer version with Jack Lemmon. Both are excellent.
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