Critical Film Condition

One of the few films that I felt needed a standing ovation after the screening… I think this sentence summarizes what I thought of this little gem of a movie.

How do you explain that the most active director in Hollywood is a 78 year-old man who finds the time to act in one of his two feature presentations last year? Renny is writing his review on “Changeling” at this exact moment, so it is up to me to explain to you why “Gran Torino” was such an exceptional experience.

I think just about anyone who stepped into a movie theatre knows who Clint Eastwood is. You either saw “Dirty Harry” or “Unforgiven” and you know who I’m talking about. And “Gran Torino” somehow reminds me of both. As Renny well described, this is what Dirty Harry would look like in retirement. And it’s good for many reasons.

Since I want to leave the best for last, let me say that the only problem that “Gran Torino” COULD HAVE is its tight shooting schedule. It is a simple, low-budget movie, and it happened to have been shot and cut in three months, which is crazy!!Keep in mind that the director is a 78 year old man who directed another feature film last year as well and know that from the first shooting day  to the final cut it can take over a year and you’ll understand. Somehow, practice makes perfect, and little to no flaws can be found, technically, in “Gran Torino”. It’s not that the movie is perfect in any way… It’s just that, when trying to find any big cutting, acting, continuity, or photography mistakes, you notice that with many years of experience, these things just don’t exist. Aside from the acting, the screenplay and the amazing photography by Tom Stern, this movie doesn’t stand out, but it is just flawless.

“Gran Torino” stars Clint (I’m just gonna call him by his first name because I think it’s cool) as Walt Kowalski, a Korean War veteran who just lost his wife and lives alone in a neighborhood in Michigan. Kowalski is a hard-ass, but ends up saving the life of two Vietnamese teens who were being attacked by a gang, just to “get these people out oh his lawn”. As expected, he starts to develop a relationship with his Asian neighbors and to tell more would just ruin the experience. The story of an old man not seeking, but getting his last chance for redemption has been told a million times (by Eastwood himself, I might add), but Kowalski is just such a complex and brilliantly developed character that this movie stands out for this reason alone. The role was made for Clint, who manages to even give it a few more layers below the predominantly grumpy face that we learn to love. Some actors, such as Harrison Ford, reach their sixties and try to prove that they still got it by doing crazy stunds and yadayadayada… Clint IS an old man, ACTS like an old man and through acting and acting alone proves that he is definitely not a guy you wanna fuck with. Every grunt, every SINGLE one of his many many one-liners is delivered with perfect timing and the audience went ape-shit over it every five minutes. Seriously, in a year that actors got praised for playing outstanding characters like clown-criminals, actors of other ethnic groups, or overweight, foulmouthed producers, Clint shows us that this old, common man, is the most complicated character to play because all that you have to work with is a regular grandpa that you as an actor have to make interesting (I still think that the best performance last year was Heath Ledger’s, but that wasn’t an acting experience, it was a complete transformation). The supporting cast is great, with many inexperienced actors that look proudly safe in their roles thanks to the experienced director.

The screenplay is just out of this world. While the story-arc is as good as the story allows it to be, in great respect of the USA vets but with a shallow development structure (it’s about a guy who is old and has guns, mainly), every single line of dialogue, every character interaction, is timed right. The most irrelevant moments are delivered right… And as an audience it is just joyous to see it turned into motion-picture. The first sequence is mainly a collage of expressions and little dialogue by Clint, and somehow me and the entire audience were hooked from this moment on.

The funny thing about “Gran Torino” is that while I’ve been trying, in the last paragraphs, to explain to you why it is so good, it is really something that has to be seen to be understood. While a technically solid experience all-around, this movie is one of those rare cases in contemporary Hollywood where the technical aspects get dropped to the background so that the actors can interact with a great screenplay and, my guess, have a great time in the set… Three months of shooting, a shit-load of improvisation, and all these great feelings just break the screen and hit you right in the face. At 78, it is unfair to say that Clint Eastwood has still got it… At 78, Clint is IN HIS PRIME!

[starreviewmulti id=1]

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