These blog entries of mine, they are really just things that I am thinking about throughout the day, or things I find interesting while perusing the web. Typically, when I post about a movie I just finished watching, it happens to a documentary. Why? Because those tend to be some of the more thought provoking ways I spend my time. You take in real life stories, process them, and if you did something right in that brain of yours, you typically get something out of it in return. Sometimes it is a life lesson, another time it may just be something you would never get the chance to experience directly, but regardless… you should come away thinking about something, anything. Not very often does a movie come along that has the same effect and it is not a documentary. Why? Because human experiences & emotions are so difficult to portray on film in a realistic manner because any thought provoking moment created by the director, writer, actor, etc… is typically drowned out by the need to appease the mass audience, so in come the explosions, the comedy, the tears, and everything that makes Hollywood… Hollywood.

About 6 months ago I heard an interview with Ryan Philippe about a new movie he had coming out. This interview was during a radio morning show on a FM rock station, probably stuck somewhere between prank calls and prize giveaways, so the content of the interview struck me as a bit odd, and now I know why. During the interview, Philippe tried to keep the discussion rather serious, while the host tried to crack jokes, and I vividly remember Philippe saying something along the lines of… “I’m trying to keep this serious because I need to convey the message of how important I think this movie is, and that it should be something every person needs to see.” My thought… “Sure, people HAVE to see it so then you get more money. Makes sense to me.” After watching his movie, I now agree with him, it is something everyone should see.

“Crash” is a movie so unique and so against the grain of what you typically find coming out of Hollywood that I wasn’t too surprised to learn that it really didn’t come out of your typical Hollywood studio. Lions Gate is a relatively small studio by Hollywood standards, but is also one of the larger independents out there. For only a $6 million budget, they were amazingly able to land Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Ludacris, Ryan Philippe, Larenz Tate and a slew of other notable faces. Bullock alone typically demands around $15-$20 million per movie, and Cheadle is one of the hotter names out there to cast at the moment.

This film takes half a dozen different stories in post-9/11 Los Angeles, intertwines them, and digs deep into the motivations & essence of each character. Some scenes were eerily reminiscent of a Quinton Tarantino movie, for example there is a scene where Ludicrous & Tate are walking down the street analyzing the problem of racial stereotypes and how incorrect they usually are, just prior to carjacking someone. Mostly the movie revolves around racial relations in a post 9/11 world and how each and every person can be affected in a large way by even the smallest of things.

The movie spends quite a bit of time reflecting back on how people respond to those racial issues. Some take circumstances of nature, and interpret them as acts of faith. Others, who may be the anti-stereotype, let their emotions fuel a rage that converts them into the stereotype for a brief moment. Some of the most racially ignorant characters end up doing some of the more commendable acts, while others just cannot let doing what is right get past their pride.

Honestly, I don’t want to go into the movie too much. Not that it is an edge of your seat thriller that would be ruined by a spoiled ending, but rather because I guarantee you every person comes out from this movie with a different interpretation. So, I’ll leave this one up to you to dissect.

If you are looking for some comparisons, I would liken this movie to Garden State for its low-key indy-vibe and American History X for its thought provoking racial theme.

Crash