#33 - Gran Torino (2008)

Clint Eastwood is another filmmaker I'm astonishingly unfamiliar with. I did see Changeling and I loved it (if only Angelina Jolie didn't go "He's not my son!" like fifty times throughout the film) but other than that I had seen very few films directed by him that I'm aware of. And it's a shame because after seeing Gran Torino I was more than impressed.


The protagonist of the film is Walt Kowalski, played by Clint Eastwood himself; a gruff, Vietnam veteran whose wife dies and now has to deal with his phony family; a priest trying to carry on his late wife's last will and get him to confess; and traditional Asian neighbours (did I mention he's a racist Vietnam vet already?). When Walt stops a gang from taking away his neighbour Thao, however, the Asian family holds him in high regard despite his unwillingness to accept their appreciation. You guessed it, it's another one of those "old gruff man becomes loving and caring" movies. But not quite, since Walt never stops being the incredibly enjoyable character that he is. Eastwood's performance is flawless,  from the angry voice and facial expressions to his charmingly racist remarks.

    

Just look at that face. It feels like Walt is pissed throughout the entire flick.

His neighbouring Hmong family is a lot of fun too. The aforementioned Thao is what Walt calls "a pussy", and his cousin, part of a gang, tries to get him initiated by stealing Walt's prized '70s Gran Torino car. Thao doesn't really want to get involved in that bullshit (I don't blame him), but after failing to steal the car his family forces him to work for Walt to make up for it, much to the latter's dismay. Like I said, he warms up to the kid and shares some fantastic scenes "teaching him to be a man". Thao's sister Sue is another great character: streetwise, witty and with a stronger personality than her brother, she has more chemistry with Walt at the beginning.

   

"No worries, we only eat cats."

Walt's family, though, are extremely downplayed. But I'm totally Ok with that since it represents how absent they are from his life: coming every so often to ask him if he'd like to move into a nursing home just so they can take his home and car. One short scene, where Walt phones his son's family and everyone argues about who should pick up the phone, really struck me. Sometimes my brother and I just pass the phone to each other to avoid being talked to by our grandmother, since you can't shut the woman down and can go on for twenty minutes on the most recent documentary/book she's seen/read with little to no input on our behalf. We seem to forget that these people are all alone and a little attention every now and then makes a huge difference to them. It hit me hard.


In the end, it's a great film. I can't really come up with any flaws to point out: it's thoroughly entertaining from start to finish. I won't give away the conclusion but I can tell you it is perfect and I couldn't possibly come up with a way to wrap up this story so well.

   

"I think you're an overeducated 27-year-old virgin that likes to hold the hands of suprestitious ladies and promise them everlasting life." Best quote in the film, by far.