Title: Blindspotting
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Carlos López Estrada
Starring: Daveed Diggs, Rafael Casal, Janina Gavankar
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins

What It Is: Collin (Diggs) only has three days left on his probation. His best friend Miles (Casal) is not helping matters by buying guns, and just generally doing things you shouldn’t associate yourself with if you’re on probation. When Collin goes to bring the moving truck he works in back to the depot he witnesses Officer Molina (Ethan Embry) murder a young black man. This haunts Collin and leads him to question his relationship with Miles, who is white, his ex-girlfriend Val (Gavankar) and pretty much everyone else around him.

What We Think: What a stunner! Oakland was the perfect place to have this film happen. A city that sees its very culture moving in the opposing direction it had been since the cities incorporation. This film really drives home the loss of identity, including their football team The Raiders (which as a Las Vegan you can all have back for the record). Conversely, there’s a ton of relevant sociopolitical topics touched on here. Not just racism but also heightened incarceration numbers among African-American males etc. Daveed Diggs is ridiculous entertaining in this. He is a guy that is not only a triple threat but he does it all really well. He also wrote this one. This is a film that not only does everyone need to see for its social context but it is one that shows the effects of gentrification on a traditionally African-American neighborhood.

Our Grade: A-, See this! That’s really all I can say about it all. It features one of my favorite performances and its denouement has a scene that for me is one of the years best. This love letter of sorts to the city of Oakland really does the city justice while calling it out on its glaring issues. A stellar film indeed.