Gran Torino

I know I'm a tad late on going to see this Michigan based film, but quite frankly I'm kind of glad that I did.

Gran Torino is one of the those films that I feel you REALLY have to be in the mood to see. This wasn't necessarily a winter time movie, but had me seemingly yearning for Michigan's summertime. Seeing the sights and sounds of familiarity from my home state has given me a gigantic sense of pride in the Michigan film incentive. (which I, as many of you know am highly involved in outside of this site)

It starts off sadly enough at the funeral of Walt's wife, where as his family and friends begin to come in he has the unprecedented scowl on his face, showing the old crotchety man who at the end of this film I narrowly escaped shedding a tear for. You learn of his relationship with his two sons, and admittedly in the beginning I REALLY disliked his character, as the only person he seemed to aesthetically respond to was his dog Daisy, an incredibly cute yellow lab.

You learn at his home after the funeral that a Mung family is living next door, which he of course scowls and raves about. There is however, the young boy who you learn is incredibly shy and smart, trapped in the near sighted one way street of going into a life of crime. After his cousins try to convince him to steal Walt's prized Torino, Thao is caught by Walt and after an odd union between Thao's sister and Walt, Thao begins to work for the scowling irritable "zipper wielding" old man next door.

After a series of unexpected (well, okay for story sake you knew something big would happen), the family next door has suddenly become victims of severe violence, and it is time for Walt to perhaps make up for his life of disliking those around him. After going to an actually rather funny confession with his local Catholic priest (who without giving much detail their relationship in this film is rather fantastic) Walt goes and...........well, I'm not an ending giver.

Aside for some rather, well not great acting (but for all credit the two kids in the movie are played by first timers, and Sue is actually a Lansing find) this is a GREAT movie. It brings to light honestly, the feelings that our grandparents and great grand parents have/had. I don't necessarily condone the language or racism in the film, but if that is all you focus on, perhaps you have the adverse perspective of the film than I did. It also put to light how incredibly dilapidated that Detroit is, a painful look into neighborhoods where every other house I wouldn't even let my cats step foot in. This is almost a period piece of sorts, showing that the times are truly changing, and perhaps if tolerance can be in the movies, why can't we do it in real life?

***Also, I'll give a shout out to William C Fox, a talented local actor who works heavily with MPI, and Tom Mahard, my favorite professor from Oakland University who were featured extras in the film.