BY ZANDER REYES

In this comedic and high-class film, two people with contrasting backgrounds go to a world that is completely foreign to them not only because they haven’t visited it yet, but also foreign in ideology.

This eloquent film illustrates a trend that stands out in the film industry. The unlikely pairing of two people of different places in society. Between an Italian and an African American, the friendship symbolizes what the world should have been like at the time. The whole film is dedicated to the message of individuality rather than compliance with societal stereotypes. A motif that is apparent throughout the film is the detailed perspective of segregation at the time. This motif is common through movies, however, so this was just a solid rendition.

The standout element of the film was the characters and the emotions that they conveyed. Tony Lip, an Italian bouncer, set the foil for Dr. Don Shirley, an African American pianist. Each character set out a distinct and tasteful tone that contributed to the overall effectiveness of the movie’s message. Another beautiful element of the character development of the movie was how each character defied their stereotypical culture in some way. All of the thoughts that went into the characters and their roles in the movie was phenomenal.

However, one thing that seriously lacked was the cinematography. The cinematography was average. There was no real artistry behind the camera work. Most of the movie followed the classic cut scheme in between shots. This movies I feel would have been intensely better if the camera movement followed suit with the emotions, characters, and events that were in the film.

What the director, Peter Farrelly, paid attention to well was the dialogue of the overall film. The writing of the movie played along well with the characters and overall made the character’s position in the film more effective than if the writing was sub-par. In particular, I was impressed with the writing of Tony Lip’s character. Tony’s dialogue throughout the movie always brought out a small response by me, whether it be laughter or anger.

The movie exceeded my expectations for the movie, however, if the film improved on the above-mentioned cinematography, artistic feel of racism, and evoked more emotion from me, this would probably be the standout film of 2018.