In Gran Style (amendment)

This may be a bit of a spoiler, so don't read if you like to know how your movies turn out by watching them.

I just wanted to point out a little more about the hero aspect of Walt: as the movie progresses, and Walt's spirituality has a rebirth (not a poor choice of words, if you think about it), just notice the position they show him in after he confronts the gang for the last time. If that's not purposeful (and, as well directed as the movie is, I can't think it wouldn't be purposeful), then I'm a monkey's uncle.

In other words, I think it's alluding to a certain important Christian figure, namely: Jesus.

I guess my only problem, then, is that are we then supposed to believe Walt is a Christ figure? Because that wasn't really the message I was getting the entire movie.

Still, sometimes I think it's so easy to get away with symbolism as to forget that the cleverness doesn't necessarily make the story better (and in a visual medium such as film, it's even easier to think something looks "cool" and forget its "coolness" doesn't gibe with the message it's sending), so. . .

I forgive you, Mr. Eastwood.

Maybe I'm a Christ-figure.

Or maybe I'm going to Hell for saying that. Mmm, delicious irony.

In Gran Style

And no, it's not a pun because Clint Eastwood is old.

Although, he is, like, really old.

I just saw Gran Torino, and while I don't want to say it's one of the best movies of the year (sorry, The Dark Knight wins that, hands down), it is a fantastic film. What's amazing is what a terrible job the commercials on television do in showing what the movie is about.

Watch this:



Now, let me ask you something: would you think this movie would be hilarious? No, right?

Well, let me tell you: it's hilarious. I laughed pretty much the entire movie, except at the end, when I cried like the little girl I am. But still, until that point, I got to witness what makes Clint Eastwood such a fantastic actor, namely--the ability to make pure fury reserved, contained, joyless, and yet ultimately funny. I'm really not kidding here; this movie will make you laugh.

But it's not a comedy in any stretch of the imagination. It's funny because Eastwood's character, Walt, is such a curmudgeonly, racist old bastard, that you almost can't believe he ever found a woman to marry him in the first place (the movie begins at his wife's funeral). Yet, he plays it so honestly that, like the Hmong girl Sue who befriends him, you connect so powerfully to his inner-goodness, while laughing off his outer-asshole. Think of him as Archie Bunker, but with a dark tour of duty in the Korean War.

That's why the ending is so powerful, too. Because you know it has to end roughly for someone--it keeps building and building towards a violent climax--and so the although it's not exactly shocking, it is perfectly tuned to strike the right emotional chord. So while I don't know if he should win Best Actor, I have no doubt that he's going to be hard to beat for Best Director (he really did get the most out of his actors).

One last thing. I was talking with my friend the other day, who happens to be a high school English teacher. One of the classes he teaches is about the American Hero, and I couldn't help thinking what a perfect example Walt is of this archetype. He's proud, strong, quiet, loyal, cunning, and self-reliant. Sure, there's a lack of the stereo-typical wilderness normally associated with the American Hero, but, in a contemporary spin, one could clearly see the suburbs of Detroit, with the de-gentrification eroding what Walt observes was a fine neighborhood, as a "wild" setting, where savage men terrorize people just trying to carve out a piece of land to call their own. His mission--to not only tame this wilderness, but the understand it, has a familiar ring, doesn't it?

Anyway, when you get a chance, watch this movie--I think you'll be hard-pressed not to find it one of the very best this past year has had to offer.