Melanie and Melvin talk about George Washington, David Gordon Green’s critically celebrated directorial debut, a coming-of-age poverty drama dripping with heart.
Topics:
- (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 28-minutes discussing various Director’s who’ve produced remarkably good movies and remarkably bad movies, why there might be such varied quality among projects, and what makes these movies distinct in their own right. (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)
- George Washington isn’t as plot heavy as it is character heavy, so Melvin explains some of what defines each character in the film.
- Melanie and Melvin both recommend George Washington prior to tuning in to their spoiler-filled discussion.
- Despite their clear talent virtually all of the teen and pre-teen actors have no acting credentials which speaks to David Gordon Green’s effective directing.
- George Washington displays endearing cross-generational relationships that are both mundane and valuable, the kind where people treat each other like people regardless of age.
- Despite George Washington‘s warmth, the film is emotionally difficult to engage, as one guest Melvin invited to watch the film texted him that they couldn’t finish it.
- George Washington, through understated means, plays along the dichotomy between beauty and sadness.
- Melvin reads a quote from the movie that comes from one of its leads, Vernon, and the two discuss what made this part of George Washington resonate so deeply with them.
- George Washington‘s angle for a teen/pre-teen coming-of-age narrative is to explore experiences of shame, repentance, forgiveness, and responsibility, concepts that are regularly ignored or poorly handled in films about adults or adult situations.
- The benefit of the ensemble cast of George Washington is that it gets to display various intimate and relatable responses to real-life situations everyone will encounter during one point of their life or another.
Recommendations:
- Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) (Movie)
- Eighth Grade (2018) (Movie)
George Washington is Not Rated. It features Candace Evanofski, Donald Holden, Damian Jewan Lee, Curtis Cotton III, Rachael Handy, Paul Schneider, and Eddie Rouse. Directed by David Gordon Green. George Washington is available on Criterion Channel.
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Melvin Benson is the Founder, Editor-In-Chief, and Lead Host of Cinematic Doctrine. He’s written fiction and nonfiction for over a decade with short stories featured on the Creepypasta Wiki and Wattpad. His novelette Ethereal Temptation, a teen drama with a tinge of magical-realism, can be read for free here. His hope is to see King Jesus glorified as far as the east is from the west!
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