Monday, March 29, 2010

Movie Rec - Gran Torino

What a terrific, thought-provoking movie!



You put it on the color TV late at night like I did last night....and you won't be going to sleep until it's over, two hours later.

To see my other movie recs - click here.

6 comments:

Taylor Conant said...

Yeah, GT is a GREAT movie, classic Clint Eastwood. Now we know what it's like to watch a Western set in the middle of the Detroit suburbs!

So many great one-liners and witty, angry old man quips from Eastwood. Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did!

CaptiousNut said...

It is classic Clint.

Though I hadn't looked at it that way, yet.

I think it was masterfully written and expertly wove many themes. Notably, the inlaw interplay is not to be overlooked. His daughter-in-law *already went through the jewelry box*!

Taylor Conant said...

C,

I agree with the multiplicity of themes comment-- racism, gang rivalry (the Hmong and black gangs aren't the only one... think about Eastwood/white people as other forms of gang rivalry), Americana, urban decline, religion, ageism, neighborhood social dynamics, individualism/collectivism, the role of violence and guns, masculinity, femininity, etc. etc., the list goes on and on and everything was interesting to explore and consider.

The conclusion was awesome and an artistic masterpiece, if not slightly predictable... you caught the Christ on a Cross, right?

Yeah, I really watched this and kept thinking that this was his last, great Western. I've just seen and loved too many of the earlier ones to NOT read that context into it. You ever seen a Western that took place in a town that wasn't dying due to changing local economics (think minetown turning ghosttown)?!

CaptiousNut said...

Don't forget the circle/cycle of violence from Korea and Vietnam back to Michigan.

Or the decadent Big Auto angle.

DU said...

I confess that I watched it to see Clint beat up some punks, and it turned out to be one the best flicks I've seen in a long time. I was particularly impressed that they didn't make the priest out to be some monster. In fact he seemed like a decent fellow.

Speaking of priests, I learned a word the other day, ephebophilia.
The vast majority of abuse has been homosexual ephebophilia. You won't hear that from the gay media or liberal "catholics".

CaptiousNut said...

DU,

The priest was mocked and deprecated at first. The rest of the movie just brought back his characterization to *neutral* (at best) in my opinion.

I believe that Catholic priests are *put in tough spots* by the nature of the Church hierarchy and bureaucracy - on some levels, very much akin to the burden of being a *government school teacher*.