“Blindspotting” Should Be Seen on Home Video

Blindspotting is one of the best movies of 2018, as I noted in my review from the Atlanta Film Festival. Though it's been overshadowed by other idiosyncratic movies about race relations set in Oakland (Sorry to Bother You) and other powerful movies about police brutality (The Hate U Give), it's the best of them (though all are excellent).

Daveed Diggs makes the leap from Broadway to film with his first leading role, co-writing and co-starring with his long-time friend Rafael Casal. Both men are excellent as Oakland natives dealing with questions of identity, an unstable economy, and their gentrifying hometown.

The film made just $4.3 million in theaters but deserves to find a new life on home video. It's essential viewing. Special features include deleted scenes, a making-of, and two insightful commentaries from the director and Diggs & Casal together.

Blindspotting will be available for digital download on November 6, and on Blu-ray, DVD and on demand on November 20.

About Kip Mooney

Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.