THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Giovanni Russonello
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| Mahershala Ali, right, portraying the virtuoso pianist Donald Shirley in “Green Book.”CreditCreditPatti Perret/Universal Pictures, Participant, DreamWorks |
One of the moments in “Green Book” that reveals the most about Donald Shirley — a dandified, erudite piano virtuoso whose career was impeded by racial discrimination — doesn’t have anything to do with music, or much to do with race. This movie, to be released on Nov. 21, tells the unlikely but basically true story of the friendship between Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and Tony Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen), a working-class Italian-American from the Bronx who was hired to chauffeur the New York musician on a 1962 tour of the Jim Crow South. “Green Book” is not a biopic, but throughout the film, Tony wrestles with the question of who exactly Shirley is. A hint of an answer emerges in that moment: an artist of extravagant gifts, quiet bitterness and, when given the means to express it, generous romanticism. [
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| Movie poster |
