Crash
18 May 2005, terribly early in the morning
I actually didn’t know what Crash was about before I saw it today. Judging from the trailer, I figured it was some sort of crazy-intense film. (I was right about that.) Crash is about racism. The film presents the subject in all its ugliness. Crash is filled with an array of interesting characters, each effecting one an others lives. I liked the film a lot. It’s easy for a film about racism to be trite, preachy, or melodramatic; Crash was none of these things. The acting was top notch. The film features a stellar cast. You’ll recognize most everyone from other films and television appearances. Even Ludacris did a good job providing some comic-relief in a very serious film. Shima would be happy to know the film also featured an Iranian family. (The mother was played by Marina Sirtis of Star Trek fame.) Crash was really good, and definitely worth watching. (I should note that you get to see Jennifer Esposito from Spin City naked, which was awesome.)
I saw this film a couple of weeks ago and absolutely loved it. I’ve been recommending it to everyone I can ever since. It is definitely morally ambiguous – it doesn’t preach any easy answers, by any means. And it definitely has its moments of very high tension. I was amazed at how well Ludacris did, actually.
And Jennifer Esposito naked. I mean. Come on. Naked.
by Ben on May 18 2005, 12:05 pm #
I enjoyed Crash too. Yes, I did enjoy Ludacris in the film. The thing that strikes me the most about the film was that you really feel some sort of understanding with what happened with these characters. Like in the case of the story about the director and his wife with the racist cop, there is really nothing he could’ve done—even some would argue that he should’ve stood up in front of the racist cop.
good movie!
by matt on May 18 2005, 12:17 pm #
I liked how no one is flat. The Korean lady comes off as just another bitchy Korean lady, but its only at the end of the film that you realize why she is so high strung on that particular night. You want to hate Matt Dillon, and you probably do at the start of the film, but by the end it’s a lot more ambiguous. He’s still basically a racist guy, a prick, but it’s not as simple to discount him. I think he did a great job in this film. The second scene between him and Thandie Newton was amazing—it was one of those scenes that makes you hold your breath.
by ramanan on May 18 2005, 12:29 pm #
More like break the chair. That scene, which I don’t want to ruin for anyone, is probably one of the most tense scenes I’ve ever experienced in a film… I rarely feel that wrapped up in the fate of any character(s) in a film. Is this Haggis’s debut? Has he directed anything else? I’d watch it.
by Ben on May 18 2005, 6:23 pm #
It was his debut. What a start. I wonder who he knows; the film has an impressive cast and a bucket load of executive producers.
by ramanan on May 18 2005, 6:41 pm #
Yeah I specifically remember laughing because there were like 5 or 6 production companies listed at the beginning.
by Ben on May 19 2005, 3:16 am #
Was Sandra Bullock a racist when she feared the two approaching black men before they robbed her?
by Alan Praeorious on June 25 2007, 6:11 pm #