I also love that guy’s Blog on “Crash”, I honestly thought I was the only person in the world
who wasn’t duped by how mediocre a film that was ( perpetuating old
stereotypes and exploiting them for sensationalism, yeah, let’s reward that
).

I know that smart people do like it as David M. and Brent are clearly both very intelligent people. It’s just that I think if it had been done better than it could’ve been a movie for the ages. I do not think anyone will remember it in five years.

And as for my movie of the year, hands down: The Squid and the Whale. I felt that and Capote were the only truly outstanding movies I saw all year.

Here is what my dad (who is half white/half black and has a better perspective on race in Los Angeles than most) had to say about your review:

I liked the film, even though your friend has many valid points. It was the best film of this years crop of films to be considered for best picture. It deserved to be best film over “Broke Back.”
The most ironic thing about the film for me was it was supposed to be an anti-rascist film, and yet the only character in the film to die was a dark young black man. Typical hollywood film industry rascism in my opinion. “Match Point” was the film I liked the most. But even though”Crash” is a bit contrived, it is a film “WALMART” america needs to see. Winning best picture may accomplish that.

Nate: Thanks for the support, I appreciate it.

Anonymous: thanks for bringing my attention to those articles. They were both very interesting to read:

Brent: I obviously respect your points and think many of them are valid. As I mentioned, many very intelligent people like yourself shared different beliefs with me about this film and it obviously struck a nerve. However, I’m not sure how much of my post you read as you mentioned you didn’t finish reading, but I do discuss my feelings from a writer’s perspective about the film. To me this is the film’s most grave flaw (and maybe I should’ve began with this critique).

As you mentioned, the film does show a kind of racism rarely depicted in the movies, mainly that people of all races can be racist. This point is something that probably did need to be addressed in a movie. My main problem is that I feel the writer director created stereotypes rather than characters. With stereotypes it’s almost impossible to send “a message” unless it’s a straight satirical film, which Crash is not. To convey this theme properly, Paul Haggis needed to create real characters not these flimsy ideas of what people of different races act like.

About staying to watch the whole film: I wanted to give it a chance. As I was watching it at home it didn’t take much of an effort and sometimes a poor first half of a film can be redeemed by a good second half. I didn’t feel I’d have a right to judge this movie unless I’d seen it’s resolution. But I did consider turning it off halfway through.

As for the other Oscar films, much like you I didn’t identify with the themes in Brokeback Mountain. Maybe I should have seen it but I didn’t. I agree with your points there. However, I have seen “The Ice Storm,” another movie that Ang Lee did and was very impressed. He is very talented and I do have no doubt that Brokeback is prolly a very good movie, even if the subject matter is not my cup of tea. I did see Capote however and loved it, so I am at least sure that I liked one best picture nominee a great deal more than Crash. And I do agree that Crash’s subject matter was compelling and I think a major reason why people liked the film. However, no matter how interesting a subject matter is, it does not necessarily make it a good film (though it may make it compelling and for the record Crash IS a compelling discussion topic which I admit does give it some credebility in some way).

In the end, even though we may disagree on the film’s merit, I’m glad you commented and appreciate the film if nothing else for the fact that it allows for sober and honest discussion and dialogue no matter what.

B.Nash (yeah, I’m putting myself out there.)