Gran Torino Blu-ray Disc (Clint Eastwood, 2008)

Warner (USA)
2.40:1 1080p
116 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish, DD 5.1 Portuguese
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Extras: The Eastwood Way; Gran Torino: More Than a Car; Manning the Wheel; BD-Live; Digital Copy disc

Released: 9 June 2009

With the exception of a few rapid edits during the first 30 minutes of Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood is basically making movies the way that Hollywood used to make them decades ago. Eastwood’s style may be old-fashioned, though old-fashioned doesn’t have to be boring. At the heart of the matter is the fact that Eastwood actually understands the maxim about putting story first.

Goofballs teaching at or attending film school all talk about “The Story”, but they think that focusing on “The Story” is simply stringing episodic segments together. Unfortunately, that’s just plot summary. Putting story first really means developing a coherent storytelling vision--i.e. it’s not the story but how you tell the story that counts.

When Eastwood’s Mystic River was up against one of Peter Jackson’s LOTR abominations during awards season, Eastwood campaigned for his movie by saying, “It’s not about special effects.” Eastwood was right. Scripts for projects like Jackson’s LOTR cycle are special effects in and of themselves as they’re merely excuses for people to throw up a lot of visual trickery on the screen. True storytelling emphasizes character development, which is true with classical Hollywood cinema (directly motivated character reactions) and art-cinema narration (wherein strict causalities are backgrounded).

Much of Gran Torino invites viewers to absorb the daily routines and feelings of Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) and his Hmong neighbors, who have the usual pre-conceived notions about “outsiders” but develop respect and emotional bonds when dealing with a common threat. Walt is crotchety and unapologetic about his use of salty language, which is tolerable and funny because even though he means all the nasty things that he says about everyone else, his moral convictions are right. In this day and age, such an observation about the human condition is oddly daring given how much attention is paid to being “politically correct”. (“Political correctness” itself can be highly toxic when people hide behind polite euphemisms.)

Eastwood has a genuinely sweet chemistry with Bee Vang and Ahney Her, who play the Hmong brother-sister neighbors. This unlikely trio, along with Walt’s experiences during the Korean War, show how American macro policies have changed the micro details of this country’s undercurrents. What happens to the three main characters is scary, shocking, and profoundly moving.

Clint Eastwood is the greatest living American filmmaker.

Video:
The 2.40:1 1080p image does an excellent job of re-creating Tom Stern’s handsome cinematography, which is filled with creative shadows work and warm auburns (much of the movie seems to take place during sunsets). Fine detail is high, and the dark hues are deep and rich. Blacks are genuinely black and don’t look like dark grays.

Audio:
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English audio track is about as no-nonsense and laconic as Eastwood’s persona. The mix is generally front-biased, and there’s not much music (usually diegetic hip-hop songs being played in gangsters’ cars or military-style percussion signifying Walt moving into action). Still, one should commend the Blu-ray for offering a crisp, transparent audio experience.

Extras:
Upon loading, the disc plays a promo for Warner Blu-rays.

“The Eastwood Way” is a brief overview of the production. Though there are the usual back-slapping talking heads, you get to see behind-the-scenes footage (including deleted scenes being shot), audition tapes, and other interesting bits.

“Manning the Wheel” and “Gran Torino: More Than a Car” discuss car culture and men in American society.

Those of you with Profile 2.0 players can access BD-Live extras (the press release mentions a music video).

--Miscellaneous--
You also get a Digital Copy disc and a cardboard slipcover.