COVID-19 Special: 'Blindspotting' (15)

Director: Carlos López Estrada

Cast: Daveed Diggs, Rafael Casal, Janina Gavankar

Where can I watch?: Blindspotting is streaming on Prime Video

Rating: 5/5

Review: It's the duty of art to tackle difficult, uncomfortable subjects. In the case of director Carlos López Estrada's excellent Blindspotting, numerous timely subjects - from racism, to gentrification, police brutality and beyond - are dissected in a strikingly lyrical, often humorous, way. With just three days left until his probation is over, Collin (an outstanding Daveed Diggs) is desperate to stay out of trouble, but it seems life has other plans - his friendship with the volatile Miles (Rafael Casal) and the witnessing of a fleeing black man being shot by a white officer put him in a precarious position, as does the lingering presence of the crime that placed him in prison in the first place. From the premise I've described, you might expect a truly bleak, tragic watching experience, but you'd be mistaken - one of the film's inherent strengths is its ability to fuse the horrendous with the humorous in an honest, open way: even in tragedy, human interactions still give rise to mirth and hilarity. Perhaps most remarkable of all is the stunning imagery that is interspersed throughout the film in an almost theatrical way. From Collin's blue- and red-lit nightmare, to the imagery of young black men standing beside their gravestones in the town's cemetery, and the juxtaposition of the newly renovated 'white' houses alongside the traditional Oakland homes, there's plenty of painterly shots that resonate deeply. There's one particular image towards the end of the film that comes as a complete shock, but I won't spoil it here. The use of spoken rap is another excellent device, taking the medium so often associated with black males and injecting it into the story in an emotive, almost Shakespearean way. As I sat down to put pen to paper, I realised that I do not possess the skills to do justice to this gem of a film, so I can only encourage you to seek it out and watch it too.

A COVID-19 Must-Watch?: Striking, smart, taut and telling of our times, Blindspotting isn't just an excellent film, it's an important one as well. Watch and remember it for a long time to come.

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