Blind spotting

Movie
Original title	Blind spotting
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	2018
length	95 minutes
Rod
Director	Carlos López Estrada
script	Rafael Casal , Daveed Diggs
production	Jessica Calder , ; Keith Calder , ; Rafael Casal, ; Daveed Diggs
music	Michael Yezerski
camera	Robby Baumgartner
cut	Gabriel Fleming
occupation
	Daveed Diggs: Collin; Rafael Casal: Miles; Janina Gavankar : Val; Utkarsh Ambudkar : Rin; Tisha Campbell-Martin : Mama Liz; Jasmine Cephas Jones : Ashley; Kevin Carroll : James; Jon Chaffin : Dec; Kendra Andrews : Rachel; Ethan Embry : Officer Molina; Zack Duhame : Officer Farmer; Justin Chu Cary : Tin; Casey Adams : Chet; Aviel Ayoung : Terry;

Blindspotting is a tragic comedy by Carlos López Estrada that premiered on January 18, 2018 as part of the Sundance Film Festival . The film was released in selected American cinemas on July 20, 2018.

action

Collin has just been released on parole. On the drive home, he witnessed a police officer shooting a black man four times in the back. Without asking any questions, the police tell Collin to forget about it. Because he knows that he will be on the street a few minutes after the curfew and that there is no way he wants to go back to prison, he remains silent about the incident and tries to forget what he has seen. But he is still haunted by the pictures of the man murdered on the street.

Collin lives in gentrified Oakland, and White Miles is his best friend. However, he tends to get the two of them into trouble more than once, knowing that not he, but Collin, as an African American, is in the interests of the police, especially because he is out on probation. Miles is also ruthless towards his own family. So he brings home a gun that his son thinks is a toy, which his wife Ashley finds inexcusable. Collin works with his ex-girlfriend Val.

Background and production

Meaning of the film title

With the help of Rubin's vase Collins ex-girlfriend Val tells him what is meant by the term blind spotting in psychology understands

The title of the film Blindspotting refers on the one hand to the blind spot in ophthalmology, on the other hand it also refers to the blind spot in psychology . Here in social psychology the parts of the self or ego that are not perceived by a personality are described with this term, in criminology also the defense mechanisms that serve to trivialize, rationalize or deny one's own criminal actions, and so on Overall , blindspotting stands for the effect of seeing one thing but ignoring another that is always there. In the film, Collins ex-girlfriend Val, who is currently studying psychology, explains the term to him with the help of Rubin's vase , an exercise for the eyes in which a viewer recognizes either a vase or two faces in profile. Val goes on to explain that it is very difficult to see both at the same time.

Staff, cast and score

The film is the directorial debut of Carlos López Estrada . Daveed Diggs took on the lead role of Collin, Rafael Casal can be seen in the role of his friend Miles. Diggs and Casal also wrote the script for the film together. Miles' wife Ashley is from Jasmine Cephas Jones played like Diggs already for the Broadway musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda was on stage. Janina Gavankar plays his ex-girlfriend Val.

The soundtrack was composed by Michael Yezerski . A soundtrack for the film, comprising a total of seven songs, sung by the main cast Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, was released for download on July 13, 2018 by Republic Records . In November 2018 Republic Records released an EP with nine songs by Casal and Diggs.

publication

The film premiered on January 18, 2018 as part of the Sundance Film Festival , where it was screened in the US Dramatic Competition. On April 13, 2018, the film opened the Atlanta Film Festival. Lionsgate released the film in select U.S. cinemas on July 20, 2018, before launching nationwide on July 27, 2018.

reception

Reviews and age ratings

The film has so far won over 94 percent of the Rotten Tomatoes critics and received an average rating of 8.1 out of a possible 10 points.

Janina Gavankar , here a few months after filming was finished, plays ex-girlfriend Val in the film Collins

Uproxx's Mike Ryan says blindspotting is full of images from the Black Lives Matter movement that keep following Collin as he tries to get through the last three days of parole. Carlos López Estrada has something to say, Ryan continues, and he says it a few times in blindspotting .

Peter Debruge of Variety called a ticking clock, the Collins everyday life subliminal revived, because even the slightest confrontation with the police of Oakland could take him to jail. The script strikes the right balance between traditional prose and sophisticated poetry, continues Debruge.

Odie Henderson, a film critic for Roger Ebert , says the film makes Oakland look like a sister city to the majestic fantasy world of Wakanda from the film Black Panther when it shows an alternate reality in the city that moves towards science fiction. Only after watching the film do you realize how cleverly blindspotting was constructed and how interwoven everything is. This is mainly due to the actors and scriptwriters Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal . About the actresses Jasmine Cephas Jones , who plays Miles partner Ashley, and Janina Gavankar , who plays Collins' ex-boyfriend Val, Henderson says that both had moments in the film when they could shine as brightly as the two main actors.

In the USA, the film received an R rating from the MPAA , which corresponds to a rating of 17 and over. Tim Lindemann from epd Film explains that blindspotting approaches complex issues such as racism , gentrification and social inequality with a comparatively easy hand, but without trivializing. Despite some outbreaks of violence, the film is definitely suitable as an introduction to the subject for younger viewers, as the social message is conveyed with hip-hop interludes and humorous dialogues. At the same time, the film gives an insight into everyday life with fear, and it is incidentally shown how even the youngest have to be educated to behave as safely as possible during police checks.