Obvious story with strong performances, a mixed bag
I guess reading James Baldwin does this to some folks out there. But seriously, it's too bad with this short film about a black man being repeatedly killed Groundhog's Day style by a racist white cop doesn't fully click. To put it this way, the hands are heavy enough to break a whole city block Incredible Hulk style. Unimpeachable for the acting and it showcases some solid cinematography, but will it hold up years from now as weed is legal? I know that's a minor thing besides the point, it's just that my mind wanders to this when the conceit is so screaming this in your face, song choice included (or to make the dramatic framing of it about the now, it's hard to see it hold up when we currently have Russian Doll and Palm Springs), not to mention that I believe I saw the Cop actor in Perry Mason and was better in that too(?) I get it, I totally do. Does it mean it's interesting?In other words, I agree 1000% with everything this is saying - my Twitter handle has BLM for Pete's sake, but it doesn't mean this short in its script and some of its execution (ie how about an overhead shot of a rooftop as a cop car is driving along shows the names of George Floyd and Freddie Gray and so on) is more on the nose than even Stanley Kramer and Paul Haggis could take. And speaking of names, would we be seeing this in the Oscar group if it weren't produced by Lawrence Bender and Sean Combs? Two Distant Strangers has anger and passion, it just doesn't have anything original or different to represent or show with those things.
score 5/10
Quinoa1984 9 April 2021
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw6793823/35823
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