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Movie:		9.0
Picture:		10.0
Sound:		9.0
Extras:		7.0
Score:		9.0

Director(s):	Clint Eastwood
Writer(s):	Nick Schenk (screenplay) , Dave Johannson (story)
Starring:	Ahney Her • Bee Vang • Brian Haley • Brian Howe • Christopher Carley • Clint Eastwood • Doua Moua • Geraldine Hughes • Sonny Vue
Genre:	Comedy • Drama
Website:	http://www.thegrantorino.com/
Release Date:	June 09, 2009
Rated:

List Price:	Blu-ray - $24.99
Amazon:

When I was in elementary school one of my classmates used to make fun of my best friend. She always seemed made of steel; it never seemed to bother her when he would berate her for her Taiwanese identity. She wasn’t the only Asian girl in our class, yet he had it out for her. He would call her names and pull his eyes at the corners. She’d walk away and I’d follow. I never stood up for her though—I didn’t know I was supposed to. We were 10 years old.

After years of this, on a day she felt safe, she told him how it made her feel. She cried, telling him how sad she was when she left school on the days he was meanest. He, nor I, had any idea. The day she told him it was a huge weight lifted off her. She left their conversation smiling, even laughing. But for me, it did the opposite. There was nothing funny about it.

Gran Torino tackles racism head on. Although Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) is prejudiced against most everyone, the film focuses on an Asian neighborhood, uncovering racism and violence. Theater is special for a reason: it has the ability to add humor to all of life's drama; to portray real life, while injecting it with some necessary comedy. Torino takes a hard look at a Hmong community and the gang life within as it twists tough situations until it's wrung out the dirt, finding a few laughs at the core. The way the comedy weaves effortlessly in and out of the gritty Eastwood film makes it one of the best films I’ve ever seen. Hands down.

Walt is a Korean War veteran who lives in an area where Hmong people have moved in, displacing most other ethnicities nearby. His next-door neighbors constantly have large gatherings which Walt observes from across the lawn. The stern old vet sits on his porch, canoodling can after can of cheap beer, and muttering to himself slur after slur against his neighbors. His slurs are multi-cultural, as he has basically no idea as to whether they are Chinese, Japanese or Vietnamese - nevermind Hmong. Changed by the war, he’d treat most any Asian person with equal disgust.

Some of his best confrontations come between him and the grannie of the next-door neighbors' family. While Walt mumbles jungle-this or swamp-that, she mouths some of her own slurs back in her native tongue, leaving Walt in the dark as to specifics — but rest assured that he gets the gist of her scowls. What Walt says are some of the worst and meanest racial insults I’ve ever heard, but they are also some of the most creative. They are inserted tastefully and with that comes the funny. The tough, gritty, and - let’s just say it — totally badass Eastwood, has excellent comedic timing. Walt is completely captivating.

The young man, Thao (Bee Vang), whom Walt lovingly called “Toad,” is urged by his cousin to join a gang. Thao is given a test before he’s allowed in: he must steal Walt’s proudest possession: a 1972 Gran Torino. He catches Thao in the act only further confirming Walt’s hatred for his neighbors. Thao’s bubbly older sister Sue (Ahney Her) attempts to befriend her grumpy neighbor and succeeds after many tries, unraveling a carefully filmed story as Walt takes Thao under his wing to teach him about manhood, all the while trying to keep him free from the violent local gangs. Without much of a family himself, Walt becomes close to the entire family and joins their "foreign" community as a semi-honorary member. As a grandfather of sorts, Walt decides he must do whatever it takes to protect his new friends from harm (classic Eastwood badassery), even if that means picking up the ole shotgun.

In the recount, it’s hard to imagine how the film carries its comedy so well through the drama…but it does. Beautifully. The only drawback throughout the film is that the acting from Bee Vang and Ahney Her was sub par; but compared to Eastwood, most anyone could appear sub par. Eastwood sacrificed some talent for authenticity, as Vang and Her are both Hmong. Walt would have no idea, but Clint valued this distinction and authenticity to Torino.

It took topics as dramatic as racism and gang violence and spread them out like tire streaks on asphalt. Sure there are spots in the film as dark as where the streak began on the street, but as it shoves off it gets lighter — representing the entire spectrum of emotion. And as does the film, where the streak is the lightest the levity allows Gran Torino to really get going. If only real-life could blend in humor as well as Torino. The tasteful jokes hold this film together and easily make it one of the top five films of the last decade — it’s done so well, even my best friend would welcome the amusing slurs.

Blu-ray Bonus Features

It is the way of the Blu-ray to be packed with extras. However, it is not the way of Eastwood to pack with extras. Here Blu-ray and Eastwood meet in the middle and we get a few interesting featurettes. Because the film gets its title and much of its story begins with Walt’s Gran Torino, there are two featurettes involving cars. While one is called: “Manning the Wheel: The Meaning of Manhood as Reflected in American Car Culture,” the other is less philosophical as it takes a trip to a vintage car festival. If you like cars then these featurettes certainly have some muscle. If not, at the very least they shed light on the central component that ties the film together. And girls, it may even shed some light on why the heck men are so protective of their vehicles.

The only Blu-ray exclusive feature is called: “The Eastwood Way: Exploring the Actor/Director’s Filmmaking Process Up Close.” It’s less an exploration of Eastwood’s process than it is a normal “Making Of” section. But either way, if you’re a Clint Eastwood fan, as many are, this extra is great and allows us to spend more time with the man who seems to make Hollywood go round. Why Gran Torino was shunned by the Academy, I’ll never know. At least we know we’ll see Clint’s name on the boards again — he may be nearly 80 years old, but he is far from done with his film career.

Buy it now on Blu-ray or download it from the iTunes Store.