EYE- OPENER

world of grand emotions and predicaments that must be seen in that way, not as a culture or subculture but as something universal.

The film was written by Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, who also have the lead roles, but the fusion of intention between the director and screenwriters is such that the movie seems to have sprung from the same mind.

The filmmakers adopt, as if spontaneously, a tone that allows for humor, lightness, absurdity and even some flirtations with the surreal. Yet an undertone of tension pervades the film. Even when things seem to be going well, the possibility of a sudden plunge into shattering violence looms.

The movie takes place in an Oakland feeling the strains of gentrification. Collin (Diggs) is newly out of prison, having served a short sentence for battery,

Directed by Carlos López Estrada. MPAA rating: R (for language throughout, some brutal violence, sexual references and drug use) Running time: 1:35 Now showing at the Crosswoods, Easton 30, Gateway, Lennox 24 and Pickerington theaters

and he is spending his last few days in a halfway house. In the first scene, we see him sitting in a car, while his best friend, Miles (Casal), is trying to buy a gun from an Uber driver.

Guns, it turns out, are everywhere in the car. The brief scene introduces a comic, extreme tone that’s part of the movie’s palette, even as it establishes two things:

• Collin is a reasonable guy who doesn’t want to return to prison.

• He would be a safe bet for never going back to prison if it weren’t for his best friend. Miles is a fundamentally

decent guy but has bad judgment and a hair-trigger temper and is a bit nuts.

The filmmakers suggest that the feeling that anything can go wrong at any time isn’t a concoction of the movie but an aspect of Oakland itself making its way into the frame.

In an early scene, Collin is stuck at a red light at a quiet intersection for a long time while trying to reach the halfway house in time for the curfew. Already, there’s tension. Maybe he’ll be late. Maybe he’ll get impatient, go through the red light and end up back behind bars.

And then, out of nowhere, something horrible happens. He is the sole witness to a grievous crime that he knows he can never report.

“Blindspotting” defies expectations and avoids anything resembling formula. It follows its own course, with an instinct for placement and economy. Scenes end before they normally would. Issues are resolved off camera, in between scenes — until you start assuming they will be, and then the movie finds

ways to surprise you by not resolving them.

The pivotal element is Diggs the actor. The audience sits worrying about Collin, without whom there can be no movie. Fortunately, Diggs, bestknown for his work as Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in the musical “Hamilton,” can enlist audience support simply by standing still.

And Rafael Casal makes Miles fascinating — bottledup, angry and confused, a light-haired white native who looks like the city’s newest residents even though he’s very old-guard.

Still, “Blindspotting” is more than a showcase for Diggs and Casal. The whole ensemble is strong, notably Jasmine Cephas Jones as Miles’ levelheaded wife and Jamina Gavankar as Collin’s straitlaced ex-girlfriend.

And Ethan Embry, who plays a racist white cop, has maybe three lines in the film yet makes a powerful impression in a key scene.

“Blindspotting” is a serious work of passion, intuition and artistic intelligence.

“Blindspotting.”