Gran Torino

On New Year's Eve I visited one of my old haunts, the Regal Gallery Place movie theater in DC's Chinatown. If I had to do it over again, I probably would have gone to the AMC theater at the Hoffman Center on Eisenhower Avenue, since I spent much more time there when I lived in Alexandria. Alas.

I went to see Gran Torino, starring Clint Eastwood and a bunch of people you've probably never heard of. I say "probably" because it's just within the realm of possibility that you may recognize John Carroll Lynch, who played Drew's brother on the Drew Carey Show. When reviewing an older movie, I often say something like "XXXX was the year that brought us Movie A, Movie B, and Movie C." However, 2008 is a little too recent for that. So before going into the movie itself, let's do a brief review of some of the things Eastwood has accomplished, film and otherwise.

He's got five Oscars, though none as an actor: 2 for directing, 2 for producing, and 1 lifetime achievement award. How many people win a regular one nine years after their lifetime achievement award? He's played two iconic screen characters, the Man With No Name and Dirty Harry. He was the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea for two years, and carried a loaded pistol to city council meetings. He's been on the cover of Time Magazine.

Back to the movie.

Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a Korean War vet who loves America (or what he thinks it used to be) and uses racial slurs at frequent rate, especially against his Asian neighbors. He gets involved with them in spite of his feelings, and the story goes from there. I recommened to someone, "Go see Gran Torino. Walk over dead bodies and hot coals if you have to." It's really, really good, and comes with my Scotty Williams #1 Grade A recommendation. I loved it. I came way, way closer to crying at this movie than I ever would for something like The Notebook. Movies about strength humbling itself for other people always get me. Throw in Eastwood pulling off the grizzled, tough old guy to perfection, and it's fantastic.

Sometimes the slurs are used to give a portrait of his character, and other times they're used for comic effect. The movie has a few cliche elements, most notably a mentor/apprentice relationship, but it's done well enough to be easily forgivable. Be warned that the movie has A LOT of bad language even without the racial stuff. It's very raw and doesn't bother to sugarcoat anything. It starts early and doesn't really let up.

There are times when you can tell that most of the Hmong characters haven't acted before, but this was done on purpose to give things a more authentic feel. I don't think they've got too much to apologize for.

NOTE: The Notebook is a good movie. I'm not banging down any doors to see it again soon, but still good. A little predictable, but that's okay when the predictable thing is well done. At one point I said something would happen and it happened. I turned to my viewing partner and said, "I haven't seen this movie, but I've seen a lot of movies." Well-written and acted, good-looking cast who knows what they're doing, and it's got most of the elements of a good love story. I can see why so many girls list it as their favorite movie, though I would of course recommend to all of them, "You should see more movies."