Review: Gran Torino
Mar. 22nd, 2010 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angelophile
Faced with the choice of watching Watchmen, Gran Torino or Valkyrie round at my sister's last night, I decided to plump for Gran Torino. It was a tough call, but in the end, despite what I'd heard about the racism in Gran Torino, it won out over watching anything by Alan Moore (not a fan) or starring cultist Tom Cruise as a German.
Gran Torino's the story of Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood), one of the few remaining Caucasians left in a Detroit neighborhood filled with gang violence. As a decorated Korean War veteran, he's the quintessential grumpy old man. A recent widower, he hates his family (perhaps justifiably), he hates his life, he even seems to hate himself. He's a curmudgeonly old bastard, his face set into a permanent scowl as he spits out racist slurs against his neighbors. But over time he forms a relationship with the Hmong family that's moved in next door.
What I'd heard about the movie was true - excellently produced and directed, nicely performed, it's hard to look past the inherent racism in the movie. It clearly has good intentions, but pretty much every character is a stereotype - in the case of the white characters, the lack of development's only mildly distracting. But when the movie's meant to be about confronting racism, having most of the non-white characters as either violent gang members or submissive Asians grateful for the assistance of the benevolent white man doesn't really cut it.
I'll give the movie credit for its apparent good intentions, but it's a privileged view of racism with the same old trope of the white man having to ride into town to save other cultures from themselves. And best not get started on the other tropes within - as usual terrible things happen to supporting characters, a female character in particular, but the only focus is on how it affects Clint Eastwood's character and reactions.
It's not all bad - I did find myself enjoying Clint Eastwood's central performance, despite his being close to being a parody of himself - chewing, scowling, spitting and growling through the movie - and the racial slurs he constantly spits throughout the movie making me uncomfortable. But it's hard not to warm to him when, with echoes of Dirty Harry, he confronts a gang harassing his young neighbor with the line "Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have fucked with? That's me." And the character arc, which climaxes in a confrontation that, again echoes Clint's Man With No Name past and then turns it on its head, is compelling. And I kinda love him for getting a "GET OFF MY LAWN!" line in there. However, despite being touted as a "deep" character, Walt's just another stereotype in the movie and it's no stretch for Eastwood hammily playing a badass old bastard.
Bee Vang and Ahney Her gamely do their best with their roles as the young Hmong characters Eastwood eventually takes under his wing, both doing their best with rather slight character sketches and impressing. I personally thought Ahney Her was the best thing about the movie, bringing much humour and warmth to her role and it irritated me to see her character put on the sacrificial altar to feed the white man's angst. Both the actors newcomers to the scene, but the unprofessionalism of their performances makes them feel all the more natural.
Other actors don't fare so well - if fact, a couple of bit part actors are so bad as to take you out of the movie - but I did warm to Christopher Carley as the "27 year old virgin" Father Janovich, suitably out of his depth as the neighborhood priest trying to get through to Walt.
The movie definitely works best in its lighter moments, particularly the two-handers between Eastwood and Her, and the central conceit, which appears to be "what if Dirty Harry retired to a Detroit 'burb?" is an attractive one, but it butts up against the real core theme uncomfortably. One one hand, the sterotypes work when you're aiming for black comedy - and there are moments of that in the movie, usually of the "I can't believe he just said that" variety. They work a lot less well when trying to talk seriously about racism. It's awkward and often clumsy, but I don't know, even in a movie that fails on many levels, Eastwood is always compelling and watchable.
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Date: 2010-03-22 01:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 01:36 pm (UTC)Also, there's not really a Hmong presence in Detroit. Certainly not in Pol-town where this was set. :(
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Date: 2010-03-22 04:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-26 05:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-26 11:22 am (UTC)Благодарю за статью
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