| Review:
|
Can Clint Eastwood go wrong? After striking gold in
October of 2008 with the brilliant “Changeling,” he releases
“Gran Torino” in December, another of the year’s best films.
What a masterful storyteller Eastwood is, so focused on
creating that perfect balance between story and character.
He doesn’t disappoint with “Gran Torino,” a nearly flawless
film that gives us characters we believe in and a story
so compelling that it’s virtually impossible to not be absorbed
by it. ***
What we have here is a cross-generational, cross-cultural
story about people who can learn so much from each other
despite being different. It’s about regret, sadness, redemption,
and growth, which isn’t to say that it’s conventional or
archetypal; Eastwood plays a contemporary version of a Wise
Old Man, someone who draws on life experience to teach an
undeveloped youth. What’s unique is that, regardless of
what life has taught him, this Wise Old Man still has a
lot to learn. ***
He has a name, of course: Retired Ford factory worker
Walt Kowalski. As a veteran of the Korean War, Kowalski
has seen and done a lot of things he wishes he hadn’t. He’s
bitter, antisocial, and politically incorrect. After his
wife’s funeral, we discover that he doesn’t get along too
well with his sons, specifically Mitch (Brian Haley) and
his wife, Karen (Geraldine Hughes), who seem to believe
that his age automatically makes him codependent and eligible
for a spot in a retirement home. ***
His grandchildren don’t appreciate him one bit; the
granddaughter only wants his stuff, hand-me-downs to take
with her to school. They don’t make things easy for him,
but then again, he doesn’t make things easy for them, either.
It’s a vicious cycle of resentment and miscommunication.
***
As this is being established, we’re introduced to a
teenage boy named Thao (Bee Vang), who lives next door to
Kowalski with his large Hmong family. He’s the black sheep
of his deeply traditional family, always doing chores that
the women are supposed to do. Having no direction in life,
he’s pressured by his cousin, nicknamed Spider (Doua Moua),
to join his neighborhood gang. ***
As an act of initiation, Thao must sneak into Kowalski’s
garage and steal his most prized possession: A 1972 Gran
Torino. The attempt backfires. Some time later, Spider arrives
with his posse and tries to abduct Thao. The resulting scuffle
is broken up when Kowalski points his shotgun at the gang
members and demand they get off his lawn. ***
Within no time at all, Kowalski’s front steps are covered
with tokens of appreciation from Thao’s family, none of
which go appreciated. But then Kowalski gets to know Thao’s
sister, Sue (Ahney Her), a remarkably independent young
woman. Quick-witted and outgoing, she takes Kowalski’s racial
slurs in stride, believing that a good man lies behind the
disgruntled façade. As he spends more time with Sue and
her family, he begins to realize that he has more in common
with them that with his own family, which, in all likelihood,
scares him more than it brings him comfort. ***
When Thao formally apologizes for trying to steal Kowalski’s
Gran Torino, Kowalski puts him to work doing various chores,
like repainting a house and fixing gutters. Hardly a scene
goes by when he isn’t verbally berating Thao, although it’s
obvious from the start that he’s doing it to toughen him
up, to make him believe that his life has a purpose and
that he should actively be trying to find it. ***
Part of this involves getting Thao to talk like a man.
There’s a priceless scene in which Kowalski brings Thao
to a barber, who has been sharing insults with Kowalski
for a number of years. Afterwards, Kowalski arranges for
Thao to work at a construction site; the boss, as it turns
out, is the perfect man for Thao to test his new vocabulary
on. ***
What Kowalski doesn’t realize is that he’s learning
just as much from Thao, especially in matters of caring
for other people. Eventually, Kowalski comes to the conclusion
that Thao and his family will never be at peace so long
as Spider and his gang are around. ***
The film’s most fascinating character is Father Janovich
(Christopher Carley), a twenty-seven year old priest who
promised Kowalski’s wife that he’d look after him upon her
death and get him to confess. Initially, Kowalski wants
nothing to do with Janovich, who gives sermons on matters
of life and death yet has no real idea what it means to
face your own mortality. ***
Kowalski knows--he served his country in Korea. “What
do you know about life?” Janovich calmly asks. “Well,” says
Kowalski, “I survived the war. I got married and had a family.”
There’s absolutely no joy in his voice when he says this.
Gradually, he begins to appreciate Janovich; he may not
have all the answers, but at least he’s willing to listen.
***
The brilliance of this movie comes not from the development
of the characters, but from the way the characters interact
with one another. Virtually no one is on friendly terms
at the start, but by the end, there’s an understated feeling
that respect has been earned on all sides. Kowalski refers
to Thao as his friend only once, and while it was nice to
actually hear it, it still didn’t come as a surprise given
everything that had been leading to that moment. At a certain
point, you just knew how Kowalski felt. ***
{Blu-ray} Edition:(Taylor Carlson)
Gran Torino's 1080p transfer is an excellent one. You'll
be delighted to know that the film looks great on Blu-Ray.
The film was shot with a fairly dull color scheme, which
was obviously the intention of the filmmakers. Detail is
strong throughout, and the colors, as they are, are rendered
accurately. The grain level is never overly distracting,
either. My only major complaint is that a few shots veer
a bit toward the softer-looking side. That minor issue aside,
Gran Torino looks incredible on Blu-Ray. Sound: The lossless
audio on this Blu-Ray disc is disappointing. The dialogue
makes up most of the film's sound, and even at times I had
difficulty making it out at a high volume. Likewise, there
are plenty of scenes that would have been great for lossless
audio, many of which involving vehicles, but even these
scenes disappoint. Ultimately, the lossless audio on this
disc falls flat of the expectations I have for such tracks,
and it really isn't that much of an improvement over the
standard DVD's audio quality.
|
