Gran Torino - FeelsGoodMan.

Gran Torino, a movie that I watched a year ago, which I wished I watched a little earlier. This movie came out in 2008 but I did not watch it until 2020. Either I'm stupid or dumb(Don't comment both).

The Backstory

Before I got my laptop, I played only PUBG-mobile. So there was a lot of time that I wasted which I feel bad about. I could've done a lot of things if I had that time now. Like grind rank in valorant? I guess no because I'll die of screaming, malding and tilting. Just like I said before on my first post, I actually owned a blog before this and I started it during the pandemic. But I couldn't make it to work out since I had no clue of what I wanted to do with the blog. I was clueless and lost. Those experiences helped me gain an idea about how to use these platforms(even if I don't get readers or viewers ;p).

The Movie poster

 I used to watch a lot of movies, especially Hollywood and foreign language films. The credit for this goes to my brother. He made me watch films since I was very young. Since I've been watching and following Hollywood for so long, a few friends of mine who were aspiring cinema persons asked me my opinion about their short films and stuffs. I was not so good at these but another high school friend of mine, who's a cinephile made me watch movies in a different point of view. I can say he's my inspiration behind aspiring cinema. I've already spoken about him in the Harry Potter and me post. The guy with "Kubrick" as his last name.

Why this movie?

So, back to the movie. I watched this movie just because it was rated 80% on rotten tomatoes. I was bored and wanted to watch something new. A movie that makes me Feel Good. But this movie was actually a mixture as it made me cry as well as made me say FEELSGOODMAN.

I was tired of watching typical Hollywood movies and wanted to watch some hidden gem of a movie. It was during this time, I actually got to re-watch classics that I didn't understand when I watched it with my brother at a young age. So there are few other movies just like this that are waiting for me to watch and tell you guys on my blog. It's just that I don't know; I got time to play games, grind xp and stuffs but can't find time to watch movies and anime. A year ago, I could complete a 12 episodes anime in a single run. But now, I rarely watch anime. Everything is on hold and I need to find a way to empty my watch list.

This movie was liked by two people who asked me about the movie and I suggested it. One of the guy was my good old friend from my middle school. We actually spoke in a long gap just because of the movie. 

The Plot

This movie talks about the life of Walt Kowalski, a Korean war veteran who lost his wife recently and was left alone by his kids. I don't know why but his character was something I can relate to in some ways. Weird. Well, he looks angry, gets triggered easily, likes to spend his time alone, doing his works on his own, without depending on anyone. That is how I wish to spend my entire life. Living at peace, enjoying my own company. 

Clint Eastwood as Walt Kowalski

He smokes and chews tobacco a lot and I think he suffered from cancer because he coughed blood during some scenes. There may be many reason to that. So not sure if that was cancer. He ignored his son's advise of spending the rest of his life in a retirement community. His wife's priest tries to comfort him but he denies them as he thought the Father was inexperienced, young man.

He resides in a Hmong American community area and all his neighbors are non-Americans. To those of you who don't know, Hmong American community members are people who fled to the US in late 1970s during the Vietnam war. So he tried to keep himself undisturbed. One of his neighbor, a teenager named Thao, was asked to steal his treasured car, a 1972 Gran Torino so that Thao will be allowed to be the member of the local gang. But he failed miserably and was getting jumped on by his cousin and his gang members for failing. Walt jumped into the scene with his rifle and fired a warning shot to save Thao from the gang. Since the incident, the Hmong members started to respect Walt, whom they previously considered like an outsider.

Walt confronted by Thao and his sister Sue

As a token of respect, Thao's mom sent him to Walt's house to do chores. It was during that time, Walt got close to the family and the community. He even helped Thao with giving dating advise, get construction tools and even got him a job using his influence. He also saves Thao's sisters from three  African-American men and develops a bond with her and learns about their culture. But on his way home from work, Thao was thrashed by his cousin and gang.

Walt driving Sue home on his Gran Torino

Walt visited the gang hideout and assaulted a member to issue warning for disturbing Thao and his family. As retaliation, they attacked the family by drive-by shooting and assaulted Thao's sister. Nobody wants to talk to the Police and they were helpless. Enraged, Thao seeks revenge and asks Walt for his help. He tells him to visit later on while he got his hair groomed and he prepared himself for one last stand-off. When Thao arrived, he locks him in his basement and confronts the gang alone. There he trash talked the members to trigger them and made a fool out of them that he has a gun and when they shot him thinking he's reaching for the gun, he was reaching for a lighter. He went there unarmed. With neighbors witnessing this shooting, the police arrested the entire gang. Finally, Thao and his family will be at peace.

As the movie ends, Walt's advocate gathers all his family members, including Thao and his sister and read his will. To everyone's surprise, he gave his home to the church and his car, Gran Torino, to Thao under the condition that he doesn't alter anything on the car. Thao drives the car with his girlfriend and the movie ends.

My take on the movie

To my surprise, I actually enjoyed and liked the film. During the initial scenes, I thought this movie is going to be boring. But I actually got involved into the film. The character of Walt got to me personally like when he coughs with pain, I felt that. I can't imagine his mental strength because he was a war veteran, lost his wife, abandoned by his family, but still surviving on his own without experiencing a mental breakdown for someone his age. I couldn't even handle my own mental pressure a couple of months ago like I'm just 21 and got a lot of things to face yet. Good thing I learnt to handle my mental health after going through all things. 

And the next thing I want to talk about is the relation that neighbors develop with him. Is it because it's a film or something but I've never seen such kinda relationships. That was something that I was jealous of because the last time I played with my neighbors was during my class 3 or 4, Since then, I never had any contact with my neighbors. Whenever I'm home, I'll stay inside my room. Even now, my own family members see me only during lunch and dinner. So I don't know if it is my lack of social connection or the way it is depicted in the movie was so good, the relation with neighbors was something I personally liked. 

Knowing that he won't survive so long and accepted his fate, he decided to give his life for the welfare of his neighbors who he doesn't even like a while ago. This take of the character is inspiring and made me cry during his death. Lately all my posts reveal that I cry for this, that; soon I think I'm gonna be labeled a crybaby lol. But it's the film's fault, not mine.

So after watching a lot of superhero movies and stuffs for a while, this movie was refreshing. It was really a FEELSGOODMAN moment. I've seen Clint Eastwood in The good, the bad and the ugly. I felt a bit different to see him play this old guy. I recommend you this movie if you want to watch a feel good movie. A good film in a while. It's been more than a year since I saw this movie and I've already talked about this movie in my old blog but that's bullshit. So I decided to make one on this one. Only this time, I think I made it good I guess. What do you guys say?

Comment below your take of the film if you've watched already or go watch it in your free time if you haven't yet. See you guys in the next post. Peace.