Korean War vet and retired autoworker Walt Kowalski doesn’t much like how his life or his neighbourhood has turned out. He especially doesn’t like the people next door, Hmong immigrants from Southeast Asia. But events force Walt to defend those neighbours against a local gang that feeds on violence and fear. For the first time since Million Dollar Baby, Clint Eastwood works on both sides of the camera, winning the National Board of Review Award as Best Actor for his bone-deep playing of Kowalski, burnished with experience, grace and gravitas into a “prime vintage Eastwood performance” (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone).