CNN's Gene Seymour says the Oscar win for 'Green Book' is "bittersweet." Seymour says 'Green Book' "was adored for its endearing, if ungainly interaction between its two main characters." African American pianist Don Shirley is portrayed by Mahershala Ali, who won Best Actor at the Oscars for the role, and white nightclub bouncer Frank Vallelonga is played by Viggo Mortensen. The movie takes place in the racially segregated South in the early 1960s. " Seymour points out that some critics believed there were many similarities between director Peter Farrelly's comedy-drama and "Driving Miss Daisy," which won Best Picture in 1990. Seymour wonders if "Green Book" represented "safety and reassurance", while "Black Panther" or "BlacKkKlansman", in his words, "would have signaled the opposite: a bolder, brasher and more assertive reflection of Hollywood's changing racial profile."