My rating of the movie Crash: 8.9 / 10
Directed by: Paul Haggis
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner
Released by: Lions Gate Films
Just saw Crash, the 2005 Oscar-winning movie on Star Movies. Boy, satellite television gratification eh? Now, my distaste for Oscar-stuff has been well-publicised on this blahg, and more often than not, at least for me, it’s justified. Take a movie from the same year, Brokeback Mountain. I mean, who wants to watch a movie on gays anyway? And guess what, critics liked it, liked it more than sensible stuff like Crash. Of course, I’m not saying that all Oscar-stuff movies are pathetic – oh no, I can’t ever forget that amazing movie The Departed. Hell, Marty got THAT right!
Coming back to Crash, it’s one helluva movie. To say that it’s a movie simply on racial discrimination is a big insult to it. It’s not – because it goes much deeper – into human nature. I’m not going to talk about the story, it’s something that the viewer needs to watch for himself and feel. Movies generally don’t make me cry, this one almost did (although it might just be that mom was cutting onions in the kitchen). And the way Paul Haggis brings the lives of the characters together, is simply brilliant. It just goes to show how small a world this is, and how intertwined our lives our. It gives out a message too – open your eyes, and set aside the differences; everyone’s human after all.
Coming to the cast, the major actors played pretty small roles. It’s the relatively unknown ones who drive the show. I don’t care if it was an unintended result of the fact that they might not have the budget to keep the big stars on screen for a longer time, but the smaller ones did a great job. I must confess, I’d no other good thing to do today and just started watching it because Sandra Bullock acted in it, but hey, she hardly has any role! Ditto for Brendan Fraser, though I never thought this chap would be able to do any role but in The Mummy. Ah, wrong again.
One word about Lions Gate Films, and how it churns out this amazing stuff. Some of my favourite movies are from their stable (including Saw). It’s good to see a studio which supports such fresh and off-the-beaten track films like these. Kudos to these guys, and keep the money rolling for such stuff!