This is not a knock against “Driving Miss Daisy,” a respectable crowd-pleaser that won the best picture Oscar for 1989. It is playing at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26, at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland for only $5, and makes for a good night out at the movies.
It’s interesting to watch it in the context of 2018, though. Jessica Tandy, as a white woman with a love/hate relationship with her black chauffeur (Morgan Freeman) in mid-20th century Atlanta, is a symbol of white America’s grudging acceptance of civil rights.
Another film that year, Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” — the best film of 1989 — was more in-your-face about race, and became a much-debated sensation. These current times get a lot wrong, but “12 Years a Slave” and “Moonlight” won the best picture Oscars. We are, as always, a work in progress.
— G. Allen Johnson
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“Driving Miss Daisy”: 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26. $5. Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. (510) 465-6400. www.paramounttheatre.com