Sometimes the best movies are the most unexpected ones. I’d made a last minute switch in my plans to prioritize Blindspotting. Something about the film (Daveed Diggs maybe?) just drew me to it (even if the trailer didn’t do much for me). I’m so grateful I went because this turned out to easily be one of the best movies of the year. I can already predict it’ll be a good contender for my top five come December.
Daveed Diggs (who also wrote this film with real life BFF and costar Rafael Casal) is a convicted felon with three days left on his probation. On his way home, he witnesses a white cop kill an unarmed black man. He struggles to process this as he works at his moving company job with his bestie, while dealing with the gentrification of his Oakland neighborhood, and just trying to keep his head down and complete this time.
This has to be the best screenplay of the year so far. It’s so smart and slick and funny. The humor is an incredible tool that unsettles you, and then drives home what it’s really trying to say. And oh man, is this movie trying to say something. A lot of somethings actually. There are so many important conversations that this film is trying to start, and like our protagonist, it’s bursting with thoughts and emotions and tensions.
There’s this one scene towards the end that everything has built towards that is one of the most powerful scenes I’ve ever experienced. I literally moved to the edge of my seat and held my breath as I watched Daveed spit out the words he’d been holding in for the whole film. But really, it’s something he’s been holding in for his whole life. It shows, and it’s powerful
Blindspotting – \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/