Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino far exceeded my expectations, but it is difficult to pinpoint why. The acting of the supporting characters was often suspect, the story was predictable and simple, and the scenery was depressing. Overall it was a very plain movie about a lonely racist troubled old man who does all that he can not to befriend his Asian neighbors. Then he does.
But the takeaway of Gran Torino is obvious when I think about it. The flaws make the movie. Detroit is full of suspect characters that overshadow the good ones. Detroit’s reality is predictably desperate, broken, and and gritty. Every damn day. Detroit’s scenery is depressing.
Each of these things is Detroit for better or worse, and the movie captures that. Beyond that the tension in the movie stems from the duality between old and young men, well kept yards and broken down houses, Fords and Toyotas… learned and naive.