An instant classic

Rating: 10/10 (9 December 2009)

When I saw Gran Torino in the cinema, I found myself gloriously amused in one second – and howling like a lap dog in the next. In a nutshell: I wished the film would never have ended. So I was curious if I would still benefit by watching it a second time – if it might actually be called an instant classic. And my answer: I did. And it might.
Eastwood sticks to his style by addressing the central topics of life in his very own (we nearly called it Clintonesque) way. As was the case for Million Dollar Baby – and perhaps any great film – our fascination is not caused by the topic's irresistibility (or have we recently missed a drama starring an intractable pensioner with xenophobic – not to say misanthropic – tendencies?), but by the breath-takingly outlined characters and their interaction. Nevertheless, we need to take a short look at the plot: Walt's life is in shambles. His wife left him via a coffin, his children want no part of him (except for his car and house), and his neighborhood has been overrun by immigrant clans a long time ago. Thus he's got nothing left but his dog; and his Gran Torino, this battleship of a Ford he helped to build decades ago as an assembly-line worker. This is the starting situation for a 116-minute-long emotional roller coaster ride through strange and even stranger cultures.
By the film's virtuously proportioned intensity and dialogues with snarky humor we are not only invited, but are intrigued to participate in Walt's second life. Quite unintentionally, he changes the lives of an inexperienced clergyman, a neighboring family and finally – his own.