Blindspotting (2018) ✦ Full-Length Watchalong Reaction
Added 2024-07-16 16:45:01 +0000 UTCHey everyone! Here is the next movie reaction - another Reactr request thanks to Tyler (who I actually asked to submit through the new Patreon integration to test it out for me and provide feedback - thanks again Tyler!) I think this one was on a poll a long time ago if my memory is correct. This was a short and sweet, very good film. Let me know if you're watching for the first time with me too and I'm looking forward to discussing it. [Direct link here.]
Cheers,
✦ KL
Comments
A couple of months ago you asked how people found your channel, and I said it was because you were a moderator in PiB's server. Later, I remembered that was only part of it: that did convince me to watch a few edited reactions, which then revealed you had a submission form. It was only a couple of days later after I submitted Blindspotting that I saw it was on a poll (I wish I believed others had submitted it, but I'm guessing it was me), and so of course I had no choice but to join and vote for it. Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal have known each other about as long as their characters in the movie, and gentrification and police violence in their hometown of Oakland prompted them to write this script. The movie came out in 2018, and while the other two were much bigger, it was part of an unofficial trio of politically and socially conscious Bay area films by Black filmmakers, alongside Black Panther (which opens in Oakland, in the flashback sequence) and Sorry to Bother You (which is wildly ambitious and definitely worth seeing, but in my opinion, not as coherent as this). Although he's gone onto various things since, Diggs was and is arguably most famous as one of the original cast members of the stage phenomenon Hamilton, along with Jasmine Cephas-Jones (who plays Miles' girlfriend Ashley). When Collin and Miles are walking back to the moving truck at the beginning, they also talk to a couple on the sidewalk, which is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo by his Hamilton co-stars Emmy Raver-Lampman (who is also Diggs' partner) and Jonathan Groff. One of my favorite little stylistic touches in the movie is that when Collin sees the shooting, there is a car alarm going off. Later, when Miles gets into the fight, he also sets the car alarm off, and then at the end when they're in the house, the house's security system is beeping, so these tense moments have an audio "echo" to put the viewer back in the same headspace. Re: weed laws - I know right now you're holding off on foreign films and this isn't meant to add any pressure to that, but given you seem to have an interest in class consciousness (as an extension of your finance background), one of the movies I think you'd really love is the Academy Award-winning South Korean film Parasite. Tragically, one of the actors in that film took their own life earlier this year over a simple possession charge. Outrageous to think that something I and millions of others do every day was so legally intimidating in his country he felt like he had no alternative. After the movie was released, Starz approached Diggs and Casal about making a TV show. At first, they declined, but eventually they hit on an idea that got them excited, and "Blindspotting" ended up running for two seasons and won an Emmy for Outstanding Choreography For Scripted Programming. I said this in an LBX review, but one of the things that stung loving the movie was the idea that I could never check in on the characters or world of the movie and see what happened next, so the TV show was wonderful. I won't go into detail about who it's about or who comes back, but I will say that it takes place after the movie and is not a remake or adaptation of the same story. I doubt there will be a time when you accept TV requests, but I hope there's a chance that the show (which is short -- two 8-episode seasons, and only half-hour episodes) could also get a reaction. As with the film, they shot in Oakland, and they tried to showcase as much Bay area talent as possible in the show, on the soundtrack, and on the crew, which is really nice. (In the hopes of sweetening the pot, I'll also say they landed one notable star for the show who is not in the movie, and I know you're a big fan of one of their movies. In fact, Diggs and Casal actually developed a sequel to that movie with this person, but even though they had one of the stars on board, and making a sequel being a priority for the studio, the three of them said they struggled to even get a meeting, and the studio ended up making a different sequel instead. If you wanna know the one actor, I'll link the story about this unmade sequel in the Discord. EDIT: after I hit "post" on this, I remembered there's also a one-episode extended cameo by another star of *another* movie you saw and loved, which might be even more fun for you.) Last but not least: it'll be fun to see you see Casal again, as he turns up on one of the various ongoing journeys that you've embarked on. Which one? Hmmm... (Honestly, I actually haven't watched the thing I'm talking about yet; maybe you getting to it will when I check it off the list myself.)
Tyler Foster
2024-07-16 17:17:32 +0000 UTCnever heard of it
Tyler Foster
2024-07-16 16:57:32 +0000 UTC
