Crash (2005) Lions Gate Films 📢 Director: Paul Haggis 💰 Producer: Don Cheadle, Paul Haggis, Mark R. Harris, Bobby Moresco, Cathy Schulman, Bob Yari 👫 Cast: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, Wiliam Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Chris Bridges, Thandie Newton, Ryan Phillippe, Larenz Tate. 🏆 Awards ceremony: -78th Academy Awards: March 5, 2006. Kodak Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. 🎭 Other films nominated for Best Picture this year: -Brokeback Mountain. -Capote. -Good Night, And Good Luck. -Munich. 📕 Plot summary: A multi-story drama with several unrelated stories taking place within a 24 hour period in Los Angeles. A Los Angeles District Attorney (BRENDAN FRASER) and his moody wife (SANDRA BULLOCK) have their vehicle carjacked by two armed black gangbangers; a racist/pervert white cop (MATT DILLON) accused of assaulting a black woman and then later redeeming himself when he saves her life; a foreign store owner who is the victim of a racist-related attack taking his revenge on the blacksmith whom he holds responsible; and a black cop (DON CHEADLE - who also co-produced the film) in pursuit of his missing brother... whom it turns out is one of the gangbangers. 💥 Standout scene(s): There are two very dramatic scenes in the film, both will linger in your mind long after you have seen them: -When the locksmith is confronted by the disgruntled store owner, who shoots at him at the exact moment his young daughter runs out into the street to protect him. -The scene when pervy cop Matt Dillon rescues Thandie Newton from the car wreck. 🔑 Facts: -The 78th Academy Awards. -Nominated for 6 Academy Awards, it won 3: Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Editing. -Paul Haggis won the Oscar for producing the Best Picture two years in a row after winning for Million Dollar Baby the year prior. -This was the second Best Picture (in succession) featuring Michael Peña (Million Dollar Baby). 🙂 Personal opinion: There have been few films where my first reaction to seeing it had the same impact as the first time I saw CRASH. I instantly thought it was the best film I had seen in the past 20 years. An incredible movie, with a terrific screenplay (which totally deserved the Oscar that it won). The cast - including the typically miserable Sandra Bullock, all do their best with every bit of screen time they are afforded. There is no single standout performance over the other. Moments of extreme drama and suspense, edited together magnificently by Hughes Winborne. I also want to make mention of the atmospheric music throughout as well. It really adds to the ambience. The complex individual storylines which all finally merge into the one scenario is so well constructed in a mirroring of Tarantino's PULP FICTION. CRASH is a very non-PC movie and that for me makes it all the more great to watch. It's not for the racially sensitive and presents a stereotypical view on reality. In many ways the film feels like it's about redemption rather than racism. This incredibly powerful (and controversial) film is an absolute must-see. One of my all-time Top 50 movies. There were many people who felt that Brokeback Mountain should have won the Best Picture for 2005. Well.... they were all wrong. Did it deserve the Oscar? ✅YES. One the most entertaining, most watchable films I have seen in recent years and with a screenplay that just nails it! 9/10

Review date: 03 June 2025