#114 Gran Torino - the tale of a cranky man who befriends Asians and begins to feel needed again

2008. dir. Clint Eastwood, starring Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Christopher Carley.

Seen it before? yes.

Before we started this cockamamie project Sam wanted to watch all the movies that were up for Academy Awards in previous years. This was one of them. And I'm pretty sure we saw it in December or November of last year...meaning it was watched exceptionally recently!

The first time I watched this movie I saw a cranky man with Hmong neighbors who reached out to him because he did them a favor. There were Hmong gang members trying to recruit one of their cousins. There was a brassy (untypical Asian female) character and it was refreshing to see she wasn't your run of the mill stereo-type. His family pissed me off. They got what was coming to them.

But the second time I watched the film I saw the movie for what it really is, a tale of an old, widowed man whose family didn't need him anymore claiming they didn't understand him when all they needed to do was take their heads out of their asses and interact with their dad/grandfather more...need him more. The kids knew nothing about their grandfather. Where I come from elders are to be treated with respect. Is that really a true depiction of how American kids act toward their elders? If so, YIKES! If Daniel ever acts like that I'll smack him!!! I digress. The relationship with the Hmong family was great because there was a reciprocity, a genuine feeling of caring. Clintwood's Kowalski visually changed in the movie from a gruff sounding old man to a gruff sounding NICE old man.

There were some parts of this movie that made me uneasy. You'll see what I mean when you watch it...and you definitely should.

See it again? In a while maybe
Own it? No need...I'm sure it will be in cable soon.

#114 Gran Torino: Get off my lawn

2008. dir. Clint Eastwood, starring Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Christopher Carley.

Seen it before? yes.

Clint Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, who is a bitter, racist old man. His wife dies. He has two sons who are just awful people. I mean, who lets their kid wear a Lions jersey to a funeral? Or out in public? It is the clothing of failure.

Walt has some Hmong neighbors - the H is silent, it's pronounced "Mong". When Sue (Ahney Her) introduces herself to Walt and tells him that she's Hmong, Walt says "Hu-mong?" So either Walt can hear the silent H, or he read the script ahead of time. Sue's lackwit brother Thao (Bee Vang) tries to steal Walt's mint-condition Gran Torino, and at first Walt tries to murder him. But then he feels pity for him, and decides to help him instead. Yadda yadda, they all confront their prejudices, wait, is that Clint Eastwood singing? Ow, my freakin' ears!

Position on the list: 90
Shot on location! In fabulous Detroit, which really does look like crap.