Review of Gran Torino (2008) by Alex H — 09 Sep 2012

I really can't tell how self aware Eastwood is in this movie. Because his performance is hilarious. Maybe it's just my never having seen him in anything else. Maybe it's the bizarre sound design that accents every little grunt and sigh.

His character walked to school uphill both ways, that's for sure. If Eastwood is truly making fun of himself and his character with this, then I am on board completely. But there's never really a punchline (unless I'm failing to read between the lines), and the tone makes no sense, so I dunno.

Gran Torino also features a very strange sense of racism, but that's another story I don't wanna go into. I actually liked it despite itself, as Eastwood tells a compact concise little story with unsubtle but enjoyable characters.