Wednesday, June 15, 2005

YOU THINK YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. YOU HAVE NO IDEA: I have no idea how to talk about Paul Haggis' film Crash intelligibly without either going deep into spoiler territory or speaking in the kind of cliches that had deterred me from seeing the film before tonight: it is an Important Film about Race, Power and miscommunication in Los Angeles, in which The Interconnectedness Of Us All is demonstrated in occasionally suprising ways, in which guns are shown and all eventually go off, and in which Don Cheadle, again, is The Only Decent Person In The World. (Or is he?)

And so I understand the objections of David Edelstein and others that it's all too connected, too improbable, too manipulative, too convenient. I had no interest in seeing Grand Canyon II: Electric Boogaloo.

But this is not that movie. This is a confident, nuanced, compelling film. It did not, to me, scream Message! like Keenan Ivory Wayans' character in Don't Be A Menace . . .. It just told its story in a gripping fashion, overturning expectations even while you're trying to think one coincidence ahead.

I don't know where to start in hailing the performances -- Terrence Howard? Matt Dillon? Ludacris? Sandra Bullock? All solid.

I can understand people not liking this movie; there's a certain amount of disbelief you have to suspend. But this is a good movie about decency and indecency emerging from surprising places, and I strongly recommend you give it your time.

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