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"Gran Torino" – Review & Trailer

by Jane Boursaw on January 15th, 2009

Clint Eastwood surely must be one of the great filmmakers of this era. As far as directors go, you hear a lot about Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson … but Clint Eastwood is definitely the best of the best.

Think about the intense, dramatic films he’s done: "Changeling," "Letters from Iwo Jima," "Flags of Our Fathers," "Million Dollar Baby," and "Mystic River." These are movies that stay with you for a long time, and it’s because they’re all about the characters — people in intense situations who, quite often, are faced with tough, life-changing decisions.

"Gran Torino" falls into this category, as well. Eastwood not only directed, produced, and wrote the soundtrack for this movie, he also plays the main character. Walt Kowalski is a crotchety old Korean War vet in Detroit who just lost his wife. His relationship with his children and grandchildren is dismal, at best, and Walt basically just wants to be left alone to drink his Pabst beer and hate everything and everyone. Except for his dog, that is.

But when he interrupts an altercation taking place next door ("Get off my lawn!") – at a house inhabited by, in his mind, a much-hated Asian family - he unwittingly becomes the object of affection of all the Asians in the neighborhood. There could be nothing worse! He’s beside himself when they start bringing him food, flowers, herbs to plant in his garden, you name it.

But he strikes up a friendship with the teenage girl of the family, Sue (Ahney Her) and her brother Thao (Bee Vang), and grudgingly takes them under his wing. Because he saved Thao from his cousin’s gang, Thao is culturally obligated to work for Walt (even though he tried to steal his beloved Gran Torino at the bequest of his cousin). But Walt isn’t at all happy about it (or so it seems), and there are some funny scenes with Walt trying to figure out what to do with Thao. He finally settles on having him clean up the neighbor’s run-down place, because he’s tired of looking at it.

But the story takes a tragic turn as things with the gang heat up. The ending is one of those where you’re both cheering and heartbroken at the same time. But mostly heartbroken. It’s not quite as heartbreaking as the ending of "Million Dollar Baby," but it’s definitely headed in that direction.

Here’s the thing about "Gran Torino": 1) I didn’t really know how it was going to end until it got there, and 2) it’s not a high-action movie, by any means, but you get so engrossed in the story and characters that you don’t really notice the time passing. That’s what makes a great movie, in my view.

I appreciate the thoughtful, understated performances of all the actors in this movie, most of whom you’ve probably never heard of, including Christopher Carley as a green-behind-the-ears priest at the church Walt’s wife attended.  The story, characters, music, cinematography, and characters all make this a winner. But if you’re the least bit depressed, you might want to wait on this one. It’s a bit of a downer.

Image: Gran Torino, Warner Bros., 2009

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