Blindspotting | 2018 | R | - 2.5.10

A man (Daveed Diggs) on parole and with just a few days of probation left slowly comes to terms with the idea that his lifelong best friend (Rafael Casal) might not be a good influence. Also with Janina Gavankar, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Ziggy Baitinger, Ethan Embry and Tisha Campbell-Martin. Directed by Carlos López Estrada. [1:35]

SEX/NUDITY 2 - A man complains of his hands being cold and puts them in the pants of his partner to warm them; they then kiss briefly. A man and a woman kiss on a sidewalk and two men passing by tell them they make a nice couple. A man and a woman kiss. A man and a woman hug.
► A man tells two other men to stare at each other for a few minutes and then says, "It's not sexual" as one man grabs the other man's chest.
► Two women wear short tops that reveal bare abdomens. A couple of women wear low-cut tank tops that reveal cleavage. We see two shirtless men and we see their chest and abdomen.

VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - A truck rolls toward an intersection and a man runs in front of it looking at the driver in fear before running away and a police officer chases the man and then shoots him in the back four times (we see the man fall but do not see blood); the driver has repeated nightmares and flashbacks to the scene.
► A man slaps another man's arm and he drops a flaming alcoholic beverage on the ground; the two men fight with punches and one is shoved to the ground where the other punches him in the face repeatedly (we see his bloody nose and mouth) while another man kicks him and the flaming alcohol spreads onto the two men on the ground (we see one man's pant leg on fire and the other's jacket sleeve on fire) and we hear that the beaten man was in the hospital for a week. A man shoves another man, they fight and one slams the other's head into a car and kicks him (we see they both have bloody faces); one man draws a handgun and fires it into the air several times as other people scream and duck. A man draws a handgun and threatens another man with it as the second man lunges for his own gun on a table, the first man cocks the gun and the other man cries while the gunman is talking to him about what his life is like, he breaks things in the room and moves closer to the man's face (the gunman does not shoot) and then turns and leaves saying, "I ain't no killer."
► A man walks on a sidewalk at night and a police car does a U-turn to ride slowly next to him, the car points its search light at him and the man breathes heavily until the car drives away (the man has a handgun in his pocket). A video shows two women fighting on a train and we see them shoving each other and pulling hair. A man imagines many men standing next to graves in a cemetery and one man is covered with blood from gunshot wounds. A man has a nightmare about being chained to a table in a courtroom and vomiting bullets (we see stream of bullets but no goo). A young boy punches a man in the legs repeatedly and when the man yells for him to stop, the boy raises his hands and says, "Don't shoot."
► A young boy holds a handgun and points it to his face as his parents panic and grab it out of his hand. Three men in a car pull out handguns from a number of hiding places in the car (6 guns in total) and one man buys a handgun to take home with him; one of the men becomes nervous because he is on probation. A man waves a gun around while talking in a truck and another man becomes anxious.
► A woman yells at a man and tells him to get out of the house. A man becomes angry when he realizes he is eating a vegan burger and throws it on the ground before confronting a restaurant employee. A woman describes a scenario with a white man and a black man in a violent situation, and asks the black man who he thinks the police would shoot. Two men argue several times.
► A man is seated at a table as a judge remands him to a half-way house on probation after serving a 2-month sentence. Several men discuss a woman in a particularly derogatory fashion. A man talks about how many old oak trees were cut down in Oakland, California.
► A shrine of candles and photos and condolences is set up at a corner where a man was gunned down by police.

LANGUAGE 10 - About 130 F-words and its derivatives, 1 obscene hand gesture, 3 sexual references, 55 scatological terms, 13 anatomical terms, 23 mild obscenities, 38 derogatory terms for African-Americans (several additional references in song lyrics), name-calling (ex-felon, disloyal, babe, dumb, traitor, wild, ignorant, monster, thug, bad [F-word derivative deleted], dog, bud, ghetto), exclamations (shut-up), 2 religious profanities (The Blood of [F-word deleted] Jesus, God [F-word deleted] Damn), 3 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus, Oh My God, Oh God). | profanity glossary |

SUBSTANCE USE - A man smokes what appears to be a marijuana cigarette while driving a car, a man raps lyrics that include a reference to marijuana use, a man rolls a marijuana cigarette on his kitchen table, and a man smokes what looks like a marijuana cigarette while walking on a sidewalk. A man drinks from a can of beer, a woman drinks a short glass of what looks like whiskey, people at a party are shown holding beverages and drinking from them, and a can of beer is shown on a table in front of a man. A man smokes a cigar, a man smokes a cigarette, a man and a woman smoke cigarettes, and a man buys 1 cigarette every day at a convenience store.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Friendship, blind spots, assault charges, serving jail time, parole, loyalty, following rules, Oakland guilt, California, police violence against African-American men, progress, plausible deniability.

MESSAGE - The relationship between police and African-American men is very tense and race relations in general are not what they should be. Emotional involvement creates blind spots.