First off I would like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie! Out of all the movies we have watched, this has been my definite favorite. Although I found the plot to be often predictable, it was very captivating and had me rooting for the protagonist, Elgar. There were times when I couldn’t help but scream out things like “What? Are you stupid?” and “Gosh, please don’t do that, idiot!” Nevertheless, I found Elgar to be very much a hero, especially in the end.
What I thought was the most interesting was how color was used to display the evident differences between the white and black people in the film. In the beginning of the film, Elgar is introduced as this naïve and fish-out-of-water white guy that wears bright and light clothing. Elgar was more often than not wearing white clothing, with the occasional pastel color for accent. Interesting enough, his family all wore white, as well. Even their furniture was white! It seemed to explain the complete cultural differences Elgar had to face while owning a black apartment building in Park Slope.
To an extent, I thought that Elgar was supposed to be the embodiment of gentrification. However, I don’t believe it lasted throughout the whole film. It was evident in the way he designed his basement apartment that there was a clear difference between his and those of his tenants. At the end of the film, I thought it was the complete opposite, he tried to assimilate and was not able to so he was driven out, literally! I couldn’t believe that he had a child and he took it! I pretty much fell in love with him then and there! Overall, I felt this was a great film expressing cultural differences. But, I’m not sure I believe that this film was about gentrification.
