Gran Torino
Everyone may be looking forward to the summer of movie that are coming my way, or many I suspect will be looking forward to September when the big budget blockbuster movies all die away.
And while there are many great looking movies on the way over the coming weeks and months did you catch all the great films that were released in 2009?
The chances are that you missed out on some absolute corkers, and I'm sure that I missed a few classics as well.
But do no fear film fans over the next few weeks FemaleFirst are going to give you a few little tips on what movies you need to race out to rent.
And we couldn't really start anywhere else that Clint Eastwood who delivered on of the best movies last year, in the form of Gran Torino, as well as a great performance from the icon.
Eastwood stars as Walt Kowalski, an unabashed bigot who never heard a racial insult he didn't love. Bitter, haunted, and full of pride, Walt refuses to abandon the neighbourhood he's lived in for decades despite its changing demographics as he clings desperately to a mindset long since out of step with the times.
When his Hmong neighbour Thao tries to steal his prized muscle car as part of a gang initiation, Walt is forced to grapple with the world around him.
Gran Torino provides one of Eastwood’s best on screen performances as Walt struggles to come to terms with the changing world around him as well as showing his own prejudices and ignorance.
Walt is a tortured character who is very much plagued by the past and his actions during the Korean War and the horror s that he witnessed. Despite his fowl mouthed rants and un-PC behaviour you can’t help but like Walt as he despairs with the behaviour of the younger generations.
As well as shining in front of the camera Eastwood also excels as a filmmaker as Gran Torino is a powerful movie that explores prejudice and racial divides as well as the gulf that exists between generations.
As well as tackling these issues you will be surprised that it’s a very funny and, in places, also a very tender movie as Walt develops a great relationship with both Thao and Sue.
For his entire career Eastwood has been the king of the anti-hero and in his swansong movie he returns to a similar character as Walt is mean, rude, and racist but is a good man at heart who goes on a learning curve so late in life that by the end you are truly rooting for him.
There’s also a great performance from newcomer Bee Vang as the quiet and bullied Thao who is struggling to find his place in America feeling he doesn’t fit in and pushed around on all sides.
Striking an unlikely friendship with Walt the young Thai comes out of his shell and it’s a confident acting display from the youngster making his movie debut.
In all Gran Torino is truly a classy piece of filmmaking, which is what we have come to expect from Eastwood with the likes of Unforgiven, Changeling and Million Dollar Baby under his belt, this falls alongside them.
The great script is backed up by excellent performances from all, particularly the leading man, and is a movie that keeps you hooked from start to finish.
If this is to be Eastwood’s final acting performance then cinema has lost one of its greatest movie star but blimey what a way to go! How this movie and Eastwood's performance was overlooked at the 2009 Oscars, he didn't even bag a nomination, is anyone's guess.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Clint Eastwood