Gran Torino (2008)Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Christopher Carley, Doua Moua, Brian Haley, Geraldine Hughes, Dreama Walker, Brian Howe, John Carrol Lynch
After Bad Lieutenant and Brazil failed to tickle my fancy yesterday, I decided to go for something that was a bit of a sure thing. I saw Gran Torino in the cinemas when it came out early last year and loved it and I've been wanting to see it again ever since.
Recently widowed Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) is one of the last Caucasian Americans in a neighbourhood that is fast becoming a Hmong community. Walt is particularly unimpressed with his new Hmong neighbours. Under pressure from a local Hmong gang, Walt's young neighbour Thao (Vang) tries to steal his 1972 Gran Torino, only to be caught in the act, putting a further strain on the relationship. However, when Walt rescues Thao from abduction by the gang, he becomes celebrated as a local hero. He then takes it upon himself to try and reform Thao, and in the process becomes a surrogate father figure to the teen. Through his relationships with Thao and his sister Sue (Her), Walt becomes close to his new neighbours, realising he actually has more in common with them than his own family. When the Hmong gang continue their attacks Thau and his family, Walt decides that he has to do something about it.
Clint Eastwood publicly stated that Gran Torino would be his final acting role and what an absolute cracker of a role it is. Early on it was rumoured that Gran Torino was to be the final final installment in the Dirty Harry series. While this rumour proved to be unfounded, the similarities in the character are there. Walt Kowalski is like a retired Harry Callahan. He is exactly the tough-as-nails, take-no-crap character Eastwood became famous for playing. But what makes it work so brilliantly in Gran Torino is that Eastwood plays him with just the slightest hint of self parody. Clint obviously knows he's getting on a bit, he was 78 at the time, and is probably too old to be playing the same characters he was in his 40s and 50s, so he puts a slight spin on this one. It really is the perfect curtain call for Eastwood's acting career. In Gran Torino he gives us touching moments, surprisingly funny moments and he gets to be gruff in the way that only he can.
Gran Torino is kind of a one man show though. Eastwood dominates the film in terms of time on screen, but also in terms of the power of his presence. There are no other real standouts in the cast. Open casting calls were held for Hmong actors in Hmong communities in Detroit, St. Paul and Fresno. These casting calls saw the majority of Hmong parts going to non-actors or at least actors with no previous film experience. In fact Doua Moua was the only Hmong actor to appear in the film who had a previous screen credit. While this use of non-actors gave a certain authenticity to some of the larger family scenes in the film, at times the performances of some of the lead actors, particularly Vang and Her missed the mark a bit. Generally they were fine, but certain moments, especially moments of high tension, their performance fell a bit short. This particularly showed next to Eastwood who puts in such a strong, engaging performance. In Invictus, Eastwood would again call on non-actors to fill out some of the bit parts in the film, such as some of Matt Damon's teammates, so it is obviously a strategy he likes to employ, but in Gran Torino I think it impacted the film a bit.
One of the things which confronts you quite early in the film is some of the racist taunting. Walt fought in the Korean War and worked for decades in the Ford factory only to see the auto industry overtaken by Japanese cars, so he has a level of animosity towards Asians. He seems to have an endless stream of nicknames for his new Hmong neighbours; 'gooks', 'fish heads', 'slopes', 'chinks' and 'zipper heads'. Screenwriter Nick Schenk really must have given his racist old man thesaurus a hammering in getting this screenplay together. While there are moments early in the film where your jaw almost hits the flaw in "I can't believe he just said that" disbelief, as the film goes on Walt's racist jibes start to bite less. For starters we come to realise that, as one reviewer put it, Walt is an "equal opportunity hater". He doesn't just dislike the Hmong people, he dislikes everyone. In fact even his own family are treated no better than his new neighbours. As the film goes on Walt grows closer to his Hmong neighbours but the name calling persists. They take it in surprisingly good spirit and through that we realise that Walt's racial slander is not so much hateful or spiteful, but just of who he is. There is a scene in which Walt visits his barber and the two taunt each other, in good fun, about a number of things, race being one of them. The barber is a 'Dago'. Walt is a 'Polack'. As the film goes on we excuse Walt's seeming racism as a marker of his age and his life experience. A warning though, there are occasions on which Walt will make you laugh with some of the things he says and in hindsight you will probably feel just a bit wrong for doing it.
Gran Torino is kind of a one man show though. Eastwood dominates the film in terms of time on screen, but also in terms of the power of his presence. There are no other real standouts in the cast. Open casting calls were held for Hmong actors in Hmong communities in Detroit, St. Paul and Fresno. These casting calls saw the majority of Hmong parts going to non-actors or at least actors with no previous film experience. In fact Doua Moua was the only Hmong actor to appear in the film who had a previous screen credit. While this use of non-actors gave a certain authenticity to some of the larger family scenes in the film, at times the performances of some of the lead actors, particularly Vang and Her missed the mark a bit. Generally they were fine, but certain moments, especially moments of high tension, their performance fell a bit short. This particularly showed next to Eastwood who puts in such a strong, engaging performance. In Invictus, Eastwood would again call on non-actors to fill out some of the bit parts in the film, such as some of Matt Damon's teammates, so it is obviously a strategy he likes to employ, but in Gran Torino I think it impacted the film a bit.
One of the things which confronts you quite early in the film is some of the racist taunting. Walt fought in the Korean War and worked for decades in the Ford factory only to see the auto industry overtaken by Japanese cars, so he has a level of animosity towards Asians. He seems to have an endless stream of nicknames for his new Hmong neighbours; 'gooks', 'fish heads', 'slopes', 'chinks' and 'zipper heads'. Screenwriter Nick Schenk really must have given his racist old man thesaurus a hammering in getting this screenplay together. While there are moments early in the film where your jaw almost hits the flaw in "I can't believe he just said that" disbelief, as the film goes on Walt's racist jibes start to bite less. For starters we come to realise that, as one reviewer put it, Walt is an "equal opportunity hater". He doesn't just dislike the Hmong people, he dislikes everyone. In fact even his own family are treated no better than his new neighbours. As the film goes on Walt grows closer to his Hmong neighbours but the name calling persists. They take it in surprisingly good spirit and through that we realise that Walt's racial slander is not so much hateful or spiteful, but just of who he is. There is a scene in which Walt visits his barber and the two taunt each other, in good fun, about a number of things, race being one of them. The barber is a 'Dago'. Walt is a 'Polack'. As the film goes on we excuse Walt's seeming racism as a marker of his age and his life experience. A warning though, there are occasions on which Walt will make you laugh with some of the things he says and in hindsight you will probably feel just a bit wrong for doing it.
While Gran Torino doesn't seem to be quite on the same scale as some of Eastwood's other recent directorial efforts (Invictus, Million Dollar Baby, Changeling, Mystic River), it has been his highest grossing film as a director. It is a really good film, and was one of the surprises packets of 2009, that is if you can consider Clint Eastwood making a good film as being a surprise. It is touching, funny and really engaging and a perfect farewell for a screen legend.
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