Movies: Gran Torino

[liveonearth]

Like many Hollywood products, there is not a great deal of substance to this movie beyond what you see in the preview. But there is some. It is a redemption story of a man who is tortured inside and finds a way to make it right. And it toys with important issues, like gang violence, racism, aging, war, patriotism and religion. Eastwood's acting brings humor to all this hard stuff. Clint Eastwood growls and snarls better than just about anybody. The snarl shown above is the face he made when his son wanted to talk about putting him in an old folk's home--on his birthday. I don't plan to go see it again, but I do think it's worth seeing once. Four stars.




Throughout the movie, Eastwood's character was having bouts of painful coughing that yielded dark red blood in the sink or in his handkerchief. I had to look it up: why might one cough up blood?

Worldwide the most likely reason is tuberculosis. This character was supposed to have spent three years in Korea during the war, and could have easily contracted TB during that time. Parasites and abscesses from old infections can also cause it. In the US, the most common causes of hemoptysis are bronchitis, bronchiectasis, and lung cancer. Other possible causes are pneumonia, alcoholic-esophageal varices, pulmonary embolism (if sudden which his wasn't),






Here's the car for which the movie is named:


Clint Eastwood holding the gun that his character uses to protect his home:


His neighbors:

Comments

nicely done....

[beauregard45.livejournal.com]

to be fair, I am a complete fan of Eastwood. and having said that, I did enjoy the movie and what he attempted to accomplish. He made an effort to address several different issues in one movie, issues that can easily be confronted by a person in such a situation. The best movie ever? No. One with merit, I think so...

J.

Re: nicely done....

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

Well sure! I did give it four stars out of five---a favorable rating because I *love* the way he snarls and because he did bring up so many important questions. I think we agree. The preview was good---very good---or I wouldn't have gone to see it based on a preview. Usually I won't go see a movie without at least one trusted review.