Directed by Clint Eastwood
Gran Torino is a bitterly funny meditation on prejudice, fear of the other, and the cultural rifts running through contemporary America. Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a grumpy veteran hardened by grudges and habits, who growls more than he speaks and watches his neighbors with a mix of suspicion and sarcasm.
Through biting humor, razor-sharp dialogue, and everyday situations — fixing a freezer, giving dating advice, teaching the art of trading insults like a rite of passage — the film sidesteps the expected drama. Instead of forcing emotion, Eastwood embraces self-mockery and a classical, restrained direction, allowing tenderness to seep through the cracks of anger.
At once the portrait of a man at the end of his road and a universal reflection on legacy, Gran Torino stands as one of Eastwood’s greatest works, both self-deprecating and profoundly moving.