Gran Torino

2008. Dir: Clint Eastwood. Starring: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her and Brian Haley. ●●○○○

Way back when the AMPAS used to give three awards for writers, for Screenplay, Motion Picture Story, and Story and Screenplay. I'm not sure how these match up with the current original and adapted screenplay awards, but I like to think that Motion Picture story is an award for a film with a great idea that somehow doesn't come to fruition. This year it would easily go to Gran Torino.

The film concerns an elderly Korean War Vet (Eastwood) who slowly befriends his Hmong neighbours, or at least the younger generation (Vang and Her) and seeks redemption from his past by protecting them from the local gangs. Indeed the payoff, a final shootout in front of the gangbanger house, is nicely set up echoing themes and actions that take place in the rest of the film and subverting the audiences expectations.



The problem is that whilst the idea, from a story by Dave Johannson and Nick Schnenk is bothced in the adaptation, and the strength of the acting just isn't up to the task of rescuing the film. For instance when in doubt they give Eastwood's Walt Kowalski and low grunt, like a abbreviated form of Victor Meldrew's "I don't believe it". However it get used so much and so flatly it's difficult to ascertain what the grunts actually mean to Walt, if indeed he means anything beyond breathing out.

The use of racial slurs by Walt is necessary, and sometimes strangely affecting (such as his nickname for Choua Kue's Youa), but the point is hammered home rather too much so that I personally began to feel offence.

Many of the supporting characters are underwritten or one dimensional. Walt's family, for instance, come across as distant and unwilling to bridge the emotional gap with their father, however they were demonised in almost every scene, perhaps if they were seen to be trying to connect but fail we would have ultimately felt more for Walt's throughline.

Bee Vang and Abney Her as the brother and sister Walt gets to know are competent actors but nothing special, especially when sharing the screen with Clint, who lets face it is almost always the centre of attention. Perhaps I would have enjoyed the film more if it was all about the Lor family. Vang and Her offered enough in their scenes without Clint to make me feel the siblings had more dimensions (Thau's reaction to the Mexican insults, Sue's attitude to her date), and I would have like to have seen more of the way they ilived their daily lives.

Good work by the Gary Fettis on Set Docroation, both the Kowalski and Lor households had a lived in and believable feel to them. The rest of the technical team were solid but not spectacular.

Overall the film just wasn't good enough for it's interesting and original concept.