Blindspotting (2018)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Collin (Daveed Diggs) must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his troublemaking childhood best friend, Miles (Rafael Casal), work as movers and are forced to watch their old neighborhood become a trendy spot in the rapidly gentrifying Bay Area. When a life-altering event causes Collin to miss his mandatory curfew, the two men struggle to maintain their friendship as the changing social landscape exposes their differences. Lifelong friends Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal co-wrote and star in this timely and wildly entertaining story about friendship and the intersection of race and class set against the backdrop of Oakland. Bursting with energy, style and humor, Blindspotting, boldly directed by Carlos López Estrada in his feature film debut, is a provocative hometown love letter that glistens with humanity.

Trailer:

 

Edited July 19, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Per Daveed on IG, you can get free tickets to Blindspotting if you get them through atomtickets.com and use the promo code COMMANDER (just be aware that not all theaters showing the movie are selling tickets through this website).

Daveed and Rafael will be doing post show Q&A sessions on Friday, July 20, after the 6pm show in Century City and the 8:30pm show at the Arclight Hollywood. They are giving away 200 free tickets to each of these shows if you use the code BLINDSPOTTING (per Daveed's tweet and IG post)

They will also be doing a Q&A in Oakland at the 7pm show at the Grand Lake on Saturday, July 21.

Edited July 19, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[LADreamr]

I saw this in April at a film festival, and it was fantastic.  I'm so excited it's finally coming out wide, so more people can experience it.  I want to wait to comment further until more people have seen it, because I don't want to spoil any part of it.  I really hope it gets the attention and acclaim it deserves.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

It’s only in Oakland/SF, New York, LA, Chicago, and DC this weekend but it will be released nationwide next weekend! You can check here for theaters near you:

https://tickets.blindspotting.movie/

[ElectricBoogaloo]

My expectations for this movie weren't sky high because realistically, this is the first movie that Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal have written and this was the director's film debut. On top of that, this is an indie film which can sometimes result in the movie looking as low budget as it is. I was pleasantly surprised that it was much better than I expected. Nothing about it seemed like an indie film by first timers. If I hadn't known ahead of time, I wouldn't have guessed either of those things.

All of the main characters gave strong performances and the story was all too believable. The movie was shot and lit beautifully. There was one thing near the end of the movie that seemed entirely too coincidental (Collin and Miles being sent to pack up the house of the cop), but honestly, I've seen way bigger coincidences in real life so I was willing to buy it.

The gentrification of Oakland and the way it was portrayed was definitely relatable. I've lived in the Bay Area for almost twenty years and it's been a very visible change which has only increased in recent years as a result of (1) SF becoming ridiculously expensive which has pushed people to move across the bridge and (2) the number of businesses that are now operating out of Oakland/Berkeley/Emeryville.

The heart of the story was the friendship between Collin and Miles and how your love and loyalty to someone can blind you to the things about them that you don't want to see. Coincidentally, I saw this movie the same week that I watched an episode of Luke Cage with a similar theme. I know we are told that if we love someone, we are supposed to accept them the way they are instead of constantly trying to change them, but in the case of Collin and Miles, accepting that your best friend's wild behavior could be to your detriment can be hard to accept.

Even if you aren't a black man living in Oakland, this movie still had plenty of things that are relatable for just about anyone. Who hasn't sat at a red light late at night with absolutely no traffic coming and considered blowing through the intersection?

Edited July 22, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Rafael Casal discusses Blindspotting:

Janina Gavankar discusses Blindspotting:

 

Jasmine Cephas Jones discusses Blindspotting:

Edited July 23, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Empress1]

Daveed Diggs is so damn hot.

Now that I got that out of the way, I wanted to choke Miles like 75 times. He was just so reckless and stupid. Was it a dick move of the driver to take his time pulling out so they could move the truck? Yes. Did it warrant all his nonsense? No. They get paid no matter what, it was probably a matter of minutes, CALM DOWN. Firing a gun in the air at a party and beating someone half to death (knocking his head on the side of the car easily could have killed him) because he hurt your feelings? Ridiculous. Bringing a gun into a house with a young child, not discussing it with his mother, AND just leaving it any old place? Stupid and dangerous. 

The times when I did not want to choke him were when he was selling stuff - he really had the gift of gab. My East Coast self didn't understand a word they were saying when Miles was selling the boat but it did sound pretty. And he was certainly loyal - automatically splitting his sales with Colin, visiting him in jail and putting money on his books - but literally everything he did in the entire movie could have gotten Colin sent right back, and you just wanted to be like "DO BETTER." It seemed like Miles had been the wild one and Colin the dependable one for their whole lives, but now that they were adults and Colin had so much to lose (not to mention that Miles had a son), I just wanted Miles to grow up. 

On 7/22/2018 at 6:17 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

My expectations for this movie weren't sky high because realistically, this is the first movie that Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal have written and this was the director's film debut. On top of that, this is an indie film which can sometimes result in the movie looking as low budget as it is. I was pleasantly surprised that it was much better than I expected. Nothing about it seemed like an indie film by first timers. If I hadn't known ahead of time, I wouldn't have guessed either of those things.

All of the main characters gave strong performances and the story was all too believable. The movie was shot and lit beautifully. There was one thing near the end of the movie that seemed entirely too coincidental (Collin and Miles being sent to pack up the house of the cop), but honestly, I've seen way bigger coincidences in real life so I was willing to buy it.

The gentrification of Oakland and the way it was portrayed was definitely relatable. I've lived in the Bay Area for almost twenty years and it's been a very visible change which has only increased in recent years as a result of (1) SF becoming ridiculously expensive which has pushed people to move across the bridge and (2) the number of businesses that are now operating out of Oakland/Berkeley/Emeryville.

The heart of the story was the friendship between Collin and Miles and how your love and loyalty to someone can blind you to the things about them that you don't want to see. Coincidentally, I saw this movie the same week that I watched an episode of Luke Cage with a similar theme. I know we are told that if we love someone, we are supposed to accept them the way they are instead of constantly trying to change them, but in the case of Collin and Miles, accepting that your best friend's wild behavior could be to your detriment can be hard to accept.

Even if you aren't a black man living in Oakland, this movie still had plenty of things that are relatable for just about anyone. Who hasn't sat at a red light late at night with absolutely no traffic coming and considered blowing through the intersection?

And there's just some shit you have no business doing. His girlfriend didn't accept him bringing a gun into their place and she shouldn't have. I was so glad that Colin didn't jump in the fight with the other Black guy at the party or tell Miles's girlfriend that it was his gun. Why should he? He's trying to stay out of jail. And he was right - at a mostly white party in a gentrified neighborhood, if the cops showed up (and somebody would have called them, especially after shots rang out), it's Colin who ends up in the back of a cop car. Would Miles have said "I was the one who shot the gun and beat up the dude, arrest me?" I was nodding when Miles was like "Oh, so I'm the guy who brings a gun around his son?" and Colin replied "Isn't that what just happened?"

[SoMuchTV]

Just watched this based on recommendations in the Hamilton discussion (my library had it!) and I just have two things to add:

it took me way too long to catch the connection between all the oak tree references, and Oakland. 

And, I couldn’t help but lol at Collin’s hair after the flatiron incident. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Daveed and Rafael are hosting a celebrity storytime tonight at 6:30pm. It's a fundraiser for Fairyland, which is an Oakland institution and was the inspiration for Disneyland. You can tune in at https://www.twitch.tv/fairylandca

Kamala Harris, W. Kamau Bell, Boots Riley, Glynn Washington, Kathreen Khavari, Dave Cook, Erika Gonzalez, Jill Guerra, Sean Erick, Peter Limata, Meena Harris, and Tontra Love are just some of the storytellers scheduled to appear!

Edited September 27, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

There's a forum for the new tv adaptation of Blindspotting here. The show premieres on June 13!