The story at the core of "Blindspotting" is powerful and perceptive on the trauma of racism. Exchanges of spoken word poetry between the two leads and kaleidoscopic visuals represent their inclusive, creative, violent native Oakland. Fantasy visions also partly cloak the implausible elements of the story, and illuminate the characters' psycho-social pain. But personal expression won't overcome race and class oppression, or prevent the corporate-tech-hipster takeover of Oakland. The film's real blindspot is the hole where a vision of creative collective action might have been. R. Freed

I will admit that I wasn't expecting much from this movie. It definitely proved me wrong! It was excellent and touched on many things that unfortunately happen nowadays. There were parts when I had to keep myself from yelling at the screen because I was so engrossed in what was happening... I would highly recommend it!

Collin must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his troublemaking childhood best friend, Miles, work as movers and are forced to watch their old neighborhood become a trendy spot in the rapidly gentrifying Bay Area, the two men struggle to maintain their friendship as the changing social landscape exposes their differences. Blindspotting is another dramedy that unfortunately did not work for me. Plus neither of the perfomances or the humor and drama were quite effective. (0/10)

Collin (Daveed Diggs) faces the last three days of his probation and his turbulent relationship with his volatile buddy, Miles (Rafael Casal). In Blindspotting (a term use to describe one's being ignorant of stereotypes), everyone is in transition, beginning with Collin and ending with the city of Oakland, which must deal with the dynamics of gentrification while it continues struggling with racism on almost every front.More like Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and less like Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station, this exciting comedy/drama catches the cultural complexity of a dynamic urban setting without despairing over the constant economic and racial setbacks. That the buddies are white and black and regularly reviewing their racial makeup (watch them dash around the use of "nigger") adds a figurative layer debut director Carlos Lopez Estrada handles deftly and almost unobtrusively.As Collin avoids being associated with a gun in his last probation days so Miles buys one for protection, leading to challenges with their friendship and the Oakland Police Department. The dramatic tension parallels the tense transition of neighborhoods as they gentrify and lead the players to question their own and their neighborhoods' identity. Both young men are movers of furniture and the like during the day, linking them to the central change motif. As the film exploits Diggs's facility with hip-hop, it is able to catch the poetic nature of the changes while forging a relationship with reality.Thus the art and the reality intersect in a far more elegant process than might be expected. It sings in hip-hop about diversity, while it deals with the reality of a white cop murdering a black 26 year old. For a time as tumultuous as ours, Blindspotting is more powerful about change than all the editorials in the finest liberal tomes of our times.