I had never caught up with 2008's hit GRAN TORINO, thinking it was just a "grumpy old racist dude yells at kids to get off his lawn" story.
Never underestimate Clint Eastwood.
Eastwood's terrific as disgruntled Korea war vet and recent widower Walt Kowalski. Reeling with the loss of his wife of many years, the last original resident of a neighborhood long since filled with Korean families and gangs, Walt lives a life of solitude.
His two loves are his cherry Gran Torino and his faithful dog.
When Walt intervenes to save a teenage Korean boy next door from a band of gang bangers, he becomes a neighborhood hero, much to his anger.
It's fascinating to watch Walt realize a lot about his relationship with his own sons and their families as he learns more about the family next door and gets to know young Thao (Bee Vang, terrific in his only acting role) and his sister Sue (Ahney Her, effortlessly good).
Screenwriter Nick Schenk (The Judge) paints the characters with a resistance to cliches, an eye for cultural differences and more laughs than I ever expected.
Eastwood is a bitter racist, out of his time and faced to look at the world in new ways, but not by any path I expected him to take.
His Walt is part Archie Bunker, part Harry Callahan, with deep sadness and painful memories that haunt him.
The moments in which Walt finds some happiness in the film are genuine and perfectly staged by Director Eastwood.
John Carroll Lynch, who you've seen in a thousand roles is perfect as Walt's barber friend and Christopher Carley (Garden State) has his moments as a young priest determined to get Walt to confession.
By turns funny, painful, suspenseful and dramatic, GRAN TORINO is a damn good film and gets an A.
Like the rest of the film, Jamie Cullum's end title song (co-written by Eastwood himself) is haunting and pitch perfect.
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