By Clarence Yu

CLINT Eastwood proves that he is at the top of his game with his latest effort, Gran Torino.

Revolving around the story of Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood), a retired Ford employee and decorated Korean War vet, the movie explores themes of loss, coming to terms, friendship, and ultimately, sacrifice and redemption.

Here’s a trailer of the movie:

Set in the present day, the film begins with Walt burying his wife of many years. His grown-up children have strained relations with him, and he sets to living out the rest of his years wandering about in his home, tinkering around in his garden, sitting on his porch drinking beer and taking care of his prized possession, a 1972 Ford Gran Torino. He refuses to fulfill his wife’s dying wish, to confess to a “27-year-old, over-educated, virgin priest.”

He is bitter about many things, mainly about how the world has changed from his viewpoint, and how his neighborhood has slowly been encroached upon by a group of Asians known as “Hmongs.” He has a fast and dirty mouth, and isn’t the type of guy who would waste a second of his remaining days on anything sentimental.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Clarence Yu

WHEN Clint Eastwood uttered the now famous lines, “Do you feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?” in the polarizing landmark 1971 cop drama Dirty Harry, he might as well have been talking to himself, minus punk, as he enters another interesting phase of his storied career.

Gran Torino, which opens this December in limited release and wider in January, has been receiving mostly positive reviews as it makes its premiere rounds with the usual critics. The particular emphasis now is on Eastwood the actor, in his first starring role since 2004’s Million Dollar Baby and also rumored to be his last thespian effort.

Eastwood’s acclaim owes much to his directorial efforts: Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004) won him two Oscar awards for Best Director and Best Picture and Mystic River (2005) and Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) garnered Best Picture and Director nominations as well. He is reputed never to shout or disrupt his actors when directing, keeps his set relatively calm and focused, and delivers his films under budget and with great speed.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Clarence Yu

JUST as mysteriously as he came into the American movie industry as “The Man With No Name” in his “Spaghetti Western” trilogy and as Dirty Harry in the landmark cop drama “Dirty Harry,” reports have been leaking over the Internet that his latest starrer, “Gran Torino” (originally thought as a last sequel to the Dirty Harry franchise) would be his last film as an actor. Might I mention again that word, actor.

I found this official trailer for “Gran Torino” on YouTube:

For Eastwood has, in his storied career spanning over 40 years, been not only an actor, but a director who has had to work his way up the ladder for recognition, culminating with his Oscar wins in 1992 as Best Director for “Unforgiven,” and in 2004 for “Million Dollar Baby.”

Once dismissed as a “lazy” actor, most of us now know better that Eastwood’s technique is minimalist in nature, using gesture instead of words to convey meaning. And being lumped in with Charles Bronson and Burt Reynolds did not exactly help, but Eastwood eventually proved critics and fans alike wrong. As one of my personal heroes and directors/actors, the notion that Eastwood, at the ripe young age of 78, would be retiring from acting is quite sad. He still has the presence and capability to act, and a physique that tells you instantly that he could probably beat you up with his fingers even if you were a third of his age.

[Read the rest of this entry »]