Blindspotting (2018)

I didn't really know much about Blindspotting before I went to go see it. I had seen the trailer a couple of times, but I didn't have the strongest sense of what the film was actually about. I went and saw Blindspotting as part of my new initiative to see a new movie in theaters every Saturday morning. It gives me an excuse to go see movies that aren't the big blockbusters that I've been looking forward to for months and months, and Blindspotting certainly fits that bill. It centers around two friends, Collin (Daveed Diggs) and Miles (Rafael Casal), who reach a bit of a crossroads as Collin is finishing up his probation and begins to reassess whether Miles is really a healthy person to keep in his life going forward. Blindspotting does a really great job in balancing comedy and drama, as it tells the story of these characters while also hinting at larger issues that surround them. Through some really creative and innovative techniques, Blindspotting works as a non-confrontational social commentary, with the development of its characters being at its forefront...

Collin must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his troublemaking childhood best friend, Miles, work as movers and are forced to watch their old neighborhood become a trendy spot in the rapidly gentrifying Bay Area, the two men struggle to maintain their friendship as the changing social landscape exposes their differences. Blindspotting is another dramedy that unfortunately did not work for me. Plus neither of the perfomances or the humor and drama were quite effective. (0/10)

It's hard to pick one thing about the film. Everything is done so well. Many of the same urban themes here are found in other films, but here it is done intelligently and with some pizazz. Well acted, charming and likeable characters. There are lots of layers here to make one sit back and think.There are some scenes where the film does seem to stand out from the standard fare. Scenes in which the film makers put theor own personal touch and voice. There are some dream sequences and hallucinatory sequences in which the film makers get to show off some of their film making chops. So while mostly a gritty realistic film, it does have just a touch of expressionistic surrealism within it. I enjoyed it very much.

Collin (Daveed Diggs) faces the last three days of his probation and his turbulent relationship with his volatile buddy, Miles (Rafael Casal). In Blindspotting (a term use to describe one's being ignorant of stereotypes), everyone is in transition, beginning with Collin and ending with the city of Oakland, which must deal with the dynamics of gentrification while it continues struggling with racism on almost every front.More like Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and less like Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station, this exciting comedy/drama catches the cultural complexity of a dynamic urban setting without despairing over the constant economic and racial setbacks. That the buddies are white and black and regularly reviewing their racial makeup (watch them dash around the use of "nigger") adds a figurative layer debut director Carlos Lopez Estrada handles deftly and almost unobtrusively.As Collin avoids being associated with a gun in his last probation days so Miles buys one for protection, leading to challenges with their friendship and the Oakland Police Department. The dramatic tension parallels the tense transition of neighborhoods as they gentrify and lead the players to question their own and their neighborhoods' identity. Both young men are movers of furniture and the like during the day, linking them to the central change motif. As the film exploits Diggs's facility with hip-hop, it is able to catch the poetic nature of the changes while forging a relationship with reality.Thus the art and the reality intersect in a far more elegant process than might be expected. It sings in hip-hop about diversity, while it deals with the reality of a white cop murdering a black 26 year old. For a time as tumultuous as ours, Blindspotting is more powerful about change than all the editorials in the finest liberal tomes of our times.