Today I didn't feel like going to see Oscar-nominated Rachel Getting Married or Vicky Cristina Barcelona to be more schooled on the actress-portion of the nominations, so I took in a matinee of what I heard was a good film that didn't make the Oscar cut for Eastwood: Gran Torino. The trailer:
Wow. Powerful. Eastwood plays a crotchety widowed Korean War veteran who stubbornly stays in the old neighborhood even as all the house around him are purchased by Asians, namely the Hmong. His interactions with the neighbors are coarse. His utterances vile and bigoted. When an Asian gang tries to recruit the shy introverted young neighbor of Eastwood, the rifle comes out and a guttural "Get off my lawn." drives the gang away.
As a newfound neighborhood hero, Eastwood, once despised by his foreign neighborhood, is now embraced, even adored for his "heroism". Eastwood slowly grows closer to his Asian friends than his own family. He begrudgingly becomes a mentor to his young neighbor. When a brutal act of gang retaliation befalls the neighborhood, vengeance occurs in the unlikeliest of ways, bringing peace of mind and peace to the neighborhood.
A solid Full Price for this film. I've been on a tear lately: haven't seen a bad one in a while.
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