Gran Torino (2009)
Gran Torino
”A war veteran tries to protect his neighbors from gang violence.”
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Why watch this film?
With the marks of time deeply etched into his face, actor and director Clint Eastwood may present in 'Gran Torino' one of his most memorable works -- perhaps also his most sensitive and painful. Unjustly ignored during awards season, including an unbelievable snub for Best Actor and Best Film at the Oscars, 'Gran Torino' moves with the story of a war veteran who takes to "looking after" a neighboring Oriental family that is constantly harassed and even violently assaulted by gangs in the area. With a powerful and hard-hitting performance from Clint, as well as a direction that pays attention to the details of the veteran responsible for films like 'Million Dollar Baby' and 'Unforgiven', the feature film is a gift for those who enjoy good stories about friendship, sensitivity and breaking down prejudices.
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Plot summary
Walt Kowalski, a Korean War vet, tries to reform his neighbor when he tries to steal his most beloved possession, a 1972 Gran Torino.
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From the same director
The 15:17 to Paris
Clint Eastwood brings his vision to a real case: the 2015 terrorist attack on the Amsterdam-Paris train. Based on the book 'The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train, and Three American Heroes' written by Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler, the three American tourists who acted during the incident, the film serves as a tribute to American heroism, shot in an interesting documentary style with the actual protagonists acting as themselves. On the other hand, the movie fails to create the necessary tension and in its ideological message.
Letters from Iwo Jima
They say history is written by the victors. But this time, Clint Eastwood decided to look at the losers. In doing so, he brings us a touching tale of how war can end our longings, dreams and desires in an honest and profound portrait. The director was also involved in 'Flags of Our Fathers', which tells the same story from the other side of the war. It's an interesting double feature to watch together to understand the portrait from two different perspectives, but in terms of sensitivity and strength, 'Letters from Iwo Jima' stands out much more.
Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood is a great example of a professional who can excel as an actor and director. In "Million Dollar Baby", it was no different; Eastwood shows his directing ability with a touching and emotional story that is masterfully conducted and with great acting. On top of directing, Clint co-stars with Hilary Swank, who won her second Oscar for this production. The movie also won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor to Morgan Freeman, as well as Best Picture and Best Director awards. It's no wonder why; the movie tells a powerful and devastating story with a valuable moral lesson.
Sully
One of the most unbelievable real stories in history involving a plane is directed by Clint Eastwood (of 'Gran Torino', 'Million Dollar Baby') and stars Tom Hanks (‘Saving Private Ryan’). The movie tells the story of Captain Sully, a pilot who has to “make do” when his plane has problems near New York. From there, he decides to land on the Hudson River. He goes down in history, but at the same time also goes into judicial records, when US judicial forces want -- and need -- to find someone to blame for the near-disaster. Even if it's Sully himself. Brief and to the point, the movie surprises with the impact of the plot and the strength of some moments, which take a more realistic and interesting path than 'Flight', for example. Kudos to Eastwood and Hanks, who know how to keep the movie grounded.
Richard Jewell
All journalism students know the Base School case - when the owners of a Brazilian educational institution were unjustly massacred by the press for alleged child abuse. 'The Richard Jewell Case' is, proportionally speaking, the "Base School" of the American press: the private security guard who saved countless lives by finding a bomb in Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta in 1996 was accused of being the author of the terrorist attack himself - and was massacred in a trial by the press. The film, directed by the legendary Clint Eastwood, synthesizes these events with a heavyweight cast, including Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates (nominated for the Golden Globe and Oscar for the role), Jon Hamm and Olivia Wilde. However, the film brings a controversy: the story brings reporter Kathy Scruggs (played by Olivia and already deceased) offering sex in exchange for information, which would not have happened. In a way, in defending Jewell, the film commits the same mistake with Kathy.
American Sniper
Clint Eastwood adapted the homonymous book that tells the real story of Chris Kyle, an elite sniper from the US Navy Special Forces. Kyle was the author of his biography and in the cinema, he was played by Bradley Cooper. As a work, the movie was highly praised by critics and received six Oscar nominations, including Best Actor for Cooper. However, Eastwood was accused of romanticizing the US invasions in the Middle East, due to his thinking aligned with the Republican Party. Again, as a work, 'American Sniper' is an interesting war movie, which deals well with the weight that soldiers carry throughout their lives, even after they return home. After all, for many, the war never ends.
Invictus
Based on the incredible true events gathered in journalist John Carlin's book 'The Human Factor', 'Invictus' is equally a sports drama and a historical account of the events that followed Nelson Mandela's liberation from prison, his democratic election as president in 1994 and the abolishment of apartheid; as well as the political use of the 1995 Rugby World Cup to unite a racially and ideologically divided country. Although a bit idealistic in some cases, Clint Eastwood's ('Gran Torino') powerful and emotional direction makes 'Invictus' an inspiring movie, with convincing performances by Morgan Freeman ('The Shawshank Redemption') as Mandela and Matt Damon ('Good Will Hunting') as Springboks captain François Pienaar.
The Mule
This is Clint Eastwood’s 37th film as a director, a production that also marks his return – at 88 years old – to the cameras. ‘The Mule’ is based on the true story of Leo Sharp, a veteran who worked for the Sinaloa Cartel – and whose name is changed to Earl Stone here. As has been the mark of the filmmaker, the film portrays the contrasts between values and expectations of different generations, as well as the repercussions of the failure of the so-called “American dream”: abandonment, inequality and violence. Even though it’s not at the level of his greatest works, this is a valuable addition to Eastwood’s filmography.
The Bridges of Madison County
"The Bridges of Madison County" is one of the most beautiful romantic movies ever made. The film is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Robert James Woller, and the transition to the screen is masterfully done by its director, Clint Eastwood ("Between Boys and Wolves", "Million Dollar Baby", "Gran Torino"). Starring him and the great Meryl Streep, the story is about a forbidden and brief romance experienced by two strangers who meet on a weekend that would change their lives. A particular universe is reserved for this couple, everything that touches them behaves like a world apart. Their romance is full and they can give themselves completely to each other, and in this short period of time nothing else matters, the rest is irrelevant. A beautiful and devastating movie, extremely powerful and exciting, impossible not to get involved intensely and not to shed tears with this so touching story.
Mystic River
"Mystic River", directed by Clint Eastwood, is a powerful, tragic, and devastating crime drama. The story follows the lives of three friends that have been marked by a tragedy in their childhood. Now adults and distant, a new event causes their paths to cross with suspicion and resentment. The film is a dramatic thriller that tells its story with great sensitivity and sorrow, we have different points of view presented in a convincing and understandable way, even if we don't agree with each one's ideas. It's interesting how the narrative construction takes place, with the story involving the characters and, in parallel, being driven by the characters of Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne, police officers investigating the case. The trajectory sends both the viewer and the characters into a spiral of doubts and distrust, and the way each one deals with it at the end reminds us that man is the wolf of man, questioning the desire for justice through vengeance and the institutional powerlessness of the police as to conductions. The film is brilliantly directed, and features intense and memorable performances from the entire cast.
Unforgiven
"Unforgiven" is one of the most iconic films of Clint Eastwood. After building an acting career around the heroic figure of the outlaw cowboy, justice-seeker and feared, and even directing several remarkable westerns throughout the first decades of his directing career, Eastwood decides to make "Unforgiven", and more than that, to star in the film. These choices are so striking for what the film - which would be the director's last western - represents. Here we have the classic narrative and hero subverted. The cowboy is old, repentant and tormented by his past. Disgusted and in search of redemption, he accepts one last job. As a counterpoint we have a younger character, deceived by the romanticizations of life without law and eager to show his virtues. There is a third character, Morgan Freeman's, who here acts as the mediator, he is measured and fair, but also more optimistic, which influences his decisions. Thus, the film is a western of points of view, which takes each of its characters to different places through its fair construction. The film won four Oscars, including best picture and direction, and became one of the director's most memorable works.
Cry Macho
In 'Cry Macho', we have one of the most introspective and personal films of the acclaimed director Clint Eastwood ('The Bridges of Madison County', 'Unforgiven', 'Million Dollar Baby'). Contrary to what the synopsis and trailer suggest, the feature is not a great heroic and adventurous journey, but rather an intimate search of a once abandoned hero in search of his place. The script is signed by Nick Schenk, who had already worked with Clint on 'The Mule' and 'Gran Torino', and the references and similarities to the two films are visible, such as the journey through Mexico or the partnership dynamic with a boy who gets into trouble. The film almost sounds like a revisit to these characters, and some others too: a relevant parallel is with 'Unforgiven' from 1992, the director's last western until then, where the figure of the cowboy already appeared deconstructed and challenged. The narrative of 'Cry Macho' quickly abdicates a realistic script and spends little time developing the background story to focus on its character, its construction, its dynamics with the boy and its relationship with the world. The story is much more a melodrama than an effective western, it works as a metaphor and testament to the director's career, symbolically putting an emblematic final in his trajectory. Even if Eastwood makes more movies from now on, we can understand what comes next as an epilogue - because this is a worthy and exciting closure of a great career.
Drama
Raspberries with Mustard
Meeri Ehrlich, 13 years old has three problems. First: She is in love - with the wrong person - and has butterflies in her tummy. Second: Her mother passed away and she misses her a lot. Third: her father - owner of a funeral home - is looking for a new partner. But Meeri has something that is only hers, something very special - she can fly.
Underdog
In its effort to raise awareness about the precarious social reality of certain sectors of the population, Mexican cinema tends to fall into miserabilism (or so-called "poverty porn"), whether in documentaries or fiction. The quest of Mexican cinema for new creative and narrative horizons is ongoing, and in the case of Underdog (Correr para vivir), director and co-writer Gerardo Dorantes opts for what, in its conventions, is an action and crime thriller extrapolated to the context of the Rarámuri (or Tarahumara) indigenous people of northern Mexico, famous for their running tradition (and their extraordinary talent for it). The plot follows two brothers: Omero (Vladimir Rivera), who dreams of being a runner; and Capó (Manuel Cruz Vivas), who is more talented but also troubled. Both are dragged into a life of service to the drug trade when Capó, in an attempt to provide for his pregnant girlfriend, fails in a cocaine delivery. To be honest, it's a good attempt to steer Mexican cinema towards other directions that are not the typical exploitation of social dramas or anthropological documentaries. However, the film ends up falling into the same vices, representing Rarámuri culture from a superficial and idealized exoticism, creating entertainment from a real social context with little sensitivity.
Downtown Owl
'Downtown Owl' - Searching for a break from her cosmopolitan life in Milwaukee, Julia Rabia (Lily Rabe), arrives in the closeknit Reagan-era town of Owl, North Dakota for a one-semester high school teaching job. But when the small town turns out to be a wonderland of second-string poets, smoldering Marlboro Men, and a social hierarchy that echoes high school, Julia doesn't know if she's come to town to get away from home or to find it. Ed Harris, Vanessa Hudgens, Henry Golding, and Finn Wittrock also star in this Great Plains dark dramedy directed by Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater. Based on the novel by Chuck Klosterman.
Baby
After his release from a juvenile center, Wellington finds himself homeless in São Paulo. At a porn theater, he meets Ronaldo, who mentors him in street survival. Their bond evolves into a turbulent affair.
