Clint Eastwood as a director is superb. His eye for drama and detail, have made some of his films epic, such as Changeling (2008) and Unforgiven (1992) which are two of my favourites. Eastwood as an actor is also great. His performances are loaded with gristly testosterone, and the characters he most often portrays are tough, disagreeable and angry. Having seen Eastwood's Gran Torino I was pleased to see that his style was very much alive, and that the film was current and realistic.
The story is of a volatile neighborhood in the U.S., where racial tensions are boiling. Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a veteran of the Korean War, who finds himself living amongst a largely Hmong population. After his wife passes away, Walt struggles to find peace in his own house. His family are leeching gold diggers, and his local priest is nothing but a pest. When the Hmong family next door come under attack, Walt must deal with an internal struggle between his racist attitudes, and his moral conscience. The film is a great segment of modern American life, where the 'boiling pot' legacy is anything but a paradise.
While Eastwood's gruff performance is nothing new for cinema-goers, the compassion and ideals his character goes through and explores are very much worth watching. The methods used during the film make it seem intense, such as very little music, and dull looking scenery. This film has a brutal realism about it that seemed to engage me from start to finish, and the little moments of dark comedy make the film even more appealing.
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