Blindspotting

There are a lot of films that attempt different social issues but most seem forced and preaching. Blindspotting is organic and has such a real texture.

I've read some of the other reviews and none of them understand the characters in the film are very real. If you have ever lived in the bay, you know these people are real. Everything in the film comes from natural situations that happen without forcing it down your throat and show how one thing can lead to another. I've watched it multiple times and shown countless people and not a single person walked away from the film not blown away

While in the theaters for another movie I saw a trailer for Blindspotting and thought, "This looks OK. Nothing special just OK." Then sometime later I saw a second trailer and thought, "Hmmm, this looks like something I may want to watch." I'm so glad I watched it.

The movie is incredible. Now, a little disclaimer: I definitely gave it a star or two more for being Oakland based and Oakland themed. And it wasn't simply that Oakland, California was the backdrop, no! It was thoroughly Oakland from the soundtrack, to the BART train, to the big wheel bikes, the big rim scrapers, the neighborhoods, and of course the A's, the Warriors, and the Raiders. Blindspotting definitely appeals to the Bay Area niche but it also has a larger universal appeal for anyone living in an urban area.

This movie was so well written, directed, and acted--they hit the trifecta. The center focus was the two main characters, Collin (Daveed Diggs), who is an African-American male on probation and Miles (Rafael Casal), who is a white male that is Collin's best friend and a bit of a loose canon. The dynamics between them was so fascinating and illustrated so well: a black man trying to be straight and having to be extra careful and a white man who is almost completely reckless yet not having the same fears.

But the movie tackled more than that. It covered gentrification, police brutality, living as a black felon and living as a white male who's just a product of his environment. It deftly handled all of these sensitive and delicate topics without offending the sensibilities or coming off trite. There was some powerful imagery, some powerful situations and even more powerful dialogue. The script was clever, intelligent and so spot on. Blindspotting is Oakland's Do the Right Thing, or Boyz n the Hood, or even more appropriate--Good Will Hunting.

This has been the best movie I've seen this year and that's saying a lot. I hope the writers, Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, get their due recognition as well as the director Carlos Lopez Estrada. This movie could not have been easy to pull off and I think they all did a magnificent job.

This film is as real as it gets on the streets. Excellent directing, outstanding acting, perfect score (although near the end I thought I was watching a rap video) and great writing, except for the ending that I felt was a little underwhelming. 8/10 from me

Trying to strictly avoid spoilers, definitely recommend seeing this, perhaps knowing less about it going in is a plus.

The film is artful and smart while covering some serious wounds. Nine years in the making and the genuine friendship of the two main dates back before that and shines through even in the darkest moments here.

Words often fail, and they'll never stop a speeding bullet, but they still mean something. This is not cinema verite, you can find that on the nightly news sadly.

At times it was odd to enjoy such a creative encapsulation of multiple destructive forces. Amazing effort by cast and crew...in scanning the reviews, if you want something real this *may* disappoint you, but "Blindspotting" like the times themselves is surreal.

Though Blindspotting has its cliche moments, overall it's an important film tackling race relations and gentrification in America. The chemistry and genuine camaraderie between writers/stars Diggs and Casal is at the heart of this film.