Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Crash

Crash is a 2004 film (released in the U.S. in 2005). which attempts to explore racism in an impartial way. It was widely acclaimed and was nominated for six Academy Award nominations, winning three -Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. It was also nominated for nine BAFTA awards, and won two -Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress. It stars Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Ludacris, and also has Marina Sirtis and Tony Danza. In 2008 there was a 2-season TV series based on the film. That show did not continue after the death of star Dennis Hopper.

I watched it via Crackle.

trailer:


NYMag.com concludes the film "makes its social and political collisions resonate in our heads so as to leave them ringing. It’s a film you won’t stop thinking about, arguing over, debating, after the lights come up." Spirituality and Practice says, "Crash is a crash course in unmasking the racial and class divisions in American society that make all strangers into potential enemies."

Rolling Stone opens a positive review with this: "Racism collides with its targets during one thirty-six-hour period in Los Angeles. Alive with bracing human drama and blistering wit, the film benefits from the strong directing debut of Paul Haggis". Slant Magazine gives it 3 out of 4 stars.

Entertainment Weekly begins its review by saying, "The stunning, must-see drama Crash is proof that words have not lost the ability to shock in our anesthetized society." Salon calls it a "throwback message movie".

Roger Ebert gives it 4 out of 4 stars, says it deserved the best picture award, and says it
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. Most movies enact rituals; we know the form and watch for variations. "Crash" is a movie with free will, and anything can happen. Because we care about the characters, the movie is uncanny in its ability to rope us in and get us involved. ... One thing that happens, again and again, is that peoples' assumptions prevent them from seeing the actual person standing before them.
Rotten Tomatoes has a 75% critics score and an 88% audience rating.

4 comments:

  1. Huh- why don't I remember this film? I think I need to check it out. :)

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    1. I don't remember having even heard about it before, so it was new to me, too.

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  2. I remember reading much about it when it came, but it´s one of those I want to have seen,, rather than actually see it. Some films I´d much rather have told to me, I guess I´m a reader at heart.

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    1. I'm glad I've seen it but would never watch it again. I love movies, but some are best left as one-time experiences, I think. Unless it's for study. I can see this film being an excellent subject for study in certain classes.

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