14th June, 2013
You know, I have to say, I do know how to procrastinate, sometimes, when it comes to a write up.
You know, I have to say, I do know how to procrastinate, sometimes, when it comes to a write up.
Really … !
Not by much, though. After all, it’s only last night I saw the movie I wanted to talk about.
But I have to admit: apart from heading up to the my GPs to pick up a prescription, I have been faffing about, quite a bit … !
At any rate … ?
At ANY rate, I managed to catch a film last night: something I’d had in my collection for some time: but never actually got around to watching.
The 22008, Clint Eastwood directed and produced film, Gran Torino …
Set in modern-day Detroit, Gran Torino sees Eastwood as Walt Kowalski: a Korean War vet who — much like Michael Caine’s Harry Brown — is an older man whose world is one he’s finding unpalatable.
With gangs and an increasing number of ethnic minorities populating his area, the fact that the film opens with Walt’s wife’s funeral?
Isn’t something that has helped his mood …
Isn’t something that has helped his mood …
It’s when a young Hmong neighbour — Thao, played by Bee Vang — attempts to steal Walt’s prized Gran Torino* as part of a botched gang initiation — and Walt sees off the various gang members — that things start getting interesting …
Especially when the rest of the neighbours start leaving ‘Thank You’ gifts on the doorstep.
~≈∏≈~
I’ve have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed Gran Torino although I’m not usually a fan of coming-of-age dramas.
I also have to admit? I had Judge Dredd floating around my mind: mostly as I’ve read one or two interviews in mind, the the comic book character’s creators modelled him — in part — on Sylvester Stallone and Clint Eastwood.
Where I read that, I’m blowed if I can remember: but I had Carl Urban’s performance as the Judge in mind, as he put me in mind of Eastwood in Gran Torino.
There’s only on big difference.
Despite the ending Gran Torino’s, which sees the death of Eastwood’s character, Gran Torino has a fantastic sense of humour.
And you can’t say that about every film.
Gran Torino
★★★★
* The car’s where the film gets its name.
Actually, there was ONE thing I meant to add …
ReplyDeleteOne of Gran Torino’s themes is the old pot boiler of life and death. How we choose to live life: and more to the point, how we choose to die, if choice we have.
Which frankly put me in mind of a chap I once meet, called Fletch.
He’d been given the name, as he looked vaguely like the Ronnie Barker character, in the TV series, Porridge.
Quite appropriate, actually, as he’d spent a lot of time, inside. For various reasons: although the last sentence was for murdering the man who’d abused him as a child*.
One thing I can remember him telling people … ?
Was that his life, for all sorts of reasons, was not his own: never had been.
But his death … ?
His death was his to spend, exactly as he pleased.
Which left me thinking … well, lot’s of things, actually.
One was that, when I met him, that this was one of the most decent human beings I’d met.
Two … ?
Two was that, no: he wasn’t suicidal: far from it, I believe.
And Three … ?
Three was and is, quite simple: although I could be wrong.
I can’t help but think he’s approve of Clint Eastwood’s character in Gran Torino.
Just a thought.
* Fletch got a mention in Jeffrey Archer’s Prison Diaries