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New Movie of Clint Eastwood Gran Torino

Gran Torino of the American icon Clint Eastwood is number one has grossed $40 million after a month of limited release. Critics and audiences have already begun to discuss whether Clint Eastwood will get one more Oscar with Gran Torino.

DETAILS

GENRE: Drama, action, crime

DIRECTOR:  Clint Eastwood

CAST: Clint Eastwood
Bee Vang
Christopher Carley
Ahney Her
Brian Haley
Geraldine Hughes
John Carroll Lynch

RUNTIME: 116 min

SYNOPSIS :

Gran Torino is the story of a cranky, racist old man, a retired auto worker and a Korean war vet Walt Kowalski, living alone after he lost his wife. This fractious man doesn’t like close relationships with his neighbors and his sons and he isn’t pleased with the Asians moving into the region he lives. One of his Hmong neighbors, a young boy Thao, tries to steal his Grand Torino car which is very important for him. Walt  learns that Thao is threatened by Asian gangs to steal the car and finds himself in the life of Thao and his family, trying to protect them from the Asian gangs.

After the Oscar winning ‘Million Dollar Baby’, Clint Eastwood is back as director and the leading man of ‘Gran Torino’.  Maybe, it will be enough to say a new Clint Eastwood movie without a further comment as it is a pleasure to see him on the screen once more.  But let’s talk about what kind of a movie this ‘Gran Torino’ is.

Although we can laugh at some scenes, Clint Eastwood achieves to make the audience feel the melancholy and the movie turns into a requiem from comedy. Drama, comedy, crime and action are balanced very well. It gives a taste of ‘Dirty Harry’ and a little bit of  ‘The Man with No Name’. It is a simple, touching movie but it has a depth as well.

The approach to the racism is covered in the story of Walt Kowalski together with the themes of family and war with a humanistic touch. In the movie Gran Torino, Clint Easwood tells us the story of how the world around this misanthropic old guy Walt Kowalski is changing, how he resists those changes and tries to isolate himself, in a successful way. Then we see his transformation into a hero, who protects his Hmong neighbors from the gangs and makes friends.

Gran Torino is not a movie of our age, it is nostalgic more than a fashionable one. It has a potential of attracting a few generations. Would the movie have the same effect if Clint Eastwood was not the director and actor of it? Most probably, it wouldn’t. But Clint Eastwood made Gran Torino a classical movie of all times, just like his other works.  The soundtrack of the movie, composed by his son, Kyle Eastwood is also worth listening to.

You can find the Gran Torino DVD and other new releases at Boxman Store.