Lindsey and I saw Crash earlier today at Eastgate. I enjoyed Crash but found it very improbable and pitifully false—pitiful in that the characters were far from reality in their actions and racial epiphanies. If we're discussing an issue as "real" as racism, then let's treat it in terms of reality. Some scenes were bloated beyond repair, too full of ego. Don't patronize or talk down to your audience, especially, again, when treating something so important, delicate, and complicated. I think the point about race is a good one to tackle, but entirely overdone in the film. I’ve always been one for the power of subtlety, which I think would have made this a much better, more levelheaded movie.

A metaphor doesn't have to be explained, and shouldn't need to be; it lives its purpose alone. Don't present to me a metaphor and then proceed to define it with overflowing examples. I think we've lost a certain touch in movies. The public receives things in preassembled allusions and whitewashed similes. Why give an implicit gift when you can explicitly hammer something home? Please, someone out there create a trend of film with self-interpretive substance. Lost in Translation didn't have the characters spoiling their thoughts for us in an attempt to make our feeble minds understand that two people have formed a unique bond. And even some movies, such as American Beauty, can elaborate their meanings for the viewer in ways that avoid waste.

Anyway.

I’m usually too hard on movies (only because I love them), so let me retract my thumping judgments for a moment and reiterate that I did enjoy Crash in the theater; race is a great issue that should be hit hard by every media. I just think it could’ve been done so much better than what we see here. Clip its wings a bit, tone down the overstatement, and switch some of the actors and you've got a superb film. It's still a good one, though.

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