My wife and I watched this movie at home on BluRay from our public library. This movie recently won the Oscar for Best Picture and Ali won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
The lead role is Viggo Mortensen as Tony Lip, a New York bouncer of Italian descent. His club is closing for the last two months of 1962 and he is recommended as the driver for a black musician, a pianist, who is going on a tour, a series of performances, in various Deep South locations.
Mahershala Ali is in the role of Dr. Donald Shirley, who was a real jazz and concert pianist who over his career played in many high-profile venues. In 1962 he has planned this musical trip to hopefully change some perceptions about black musicians. Having a tough bodyguard as a driver will help insure his safety.
The title is a reference to a book which is a guide to where blacks can eat or sleep in southern locations, in 1962 the Deep South was mostly still segregated, blacks could not stay or eat and many locations.
As the writer, one of Tony Lip's sons, reveals, the story is only regarding that particular trip and he says the input comes from Ali himself some years earlier, and of course his dad. It is a story of how two men from greatly different backgrounds and world views became friends. Ironically both men died in 2013.
Good movie.
The lead role is Viggo Mortensen as Tony Lip, a New York bouncer of Italian descent. His club is closing for the last two months of 1962 and he is recommended as the driver for a black musician, a pianist, who is going on a tour, a series of performances, in various Deep South locations.
Mahershala Ali is in the role of Dr. Donald Shirley, who was a real jazz and concert pianist who over his career played in many high-profile venues. In 1962 he has planned this musical trip to hopefully change some perceptions about black musicians. Having a tough bodyguard as a driver will help insure his safety.
The title is a reference to a book which is a guide to where blacks can eat or sleep in southern locations, in 1962 the Deep South was mostly still segregated, blacks could not stay or eat and many locations.
As the writer, one of Tony Lip's sons, reveals, the story is only regarding that particular trip and he says the input comes from Ali himself some years earlier, and of course his dad. It is a story of how two men from greatly different backgrounds and world views became friends. Ironically both men died in 2013.
Good movie.