Robin PottratzMovie Review: Eastwood's skillful "Changeling" one of the year's best **** out of 4
November 9th 2008 03:26
The events in Clint Eastwood's new film "Changeling" don't unfold so much as they uncoil. Every new revelation rips at the soul, and Eastwood's new stunner holds you in a quiet grip and never lets go no matter how difficult the images on screen are to take. Clint Eastwood's tale is old fashioned, but feelings of heartbreak, anger, and hope are relevant no matter what era you live in. Don't buy the critics that call this film overstuffed and pretentious...Eastwood has crafted another devistating masterpiece that surely ranks among the year's best.
Angelina Jolie is nothing short of remarkable as Christine Collins, a phone switch board supervisor in 1928 Los Angeles. Christine is a single parent who lives a wonderful life with her 9 year old son Walter...until the day that she comes home from work and finds that Walter is missing. She contacts the LAPD, who inform her that she would have to wait for 24 hours before action is taken to find her child. 5 hopeless months go by until she is greeted with the news that her son has been found in Illinois and will be immediately sent home to California. The LAPD, hoping for a photo op, arranges for Christine to have a tearful reunion with her son...except for the fact that the boy is not her son. She initially knows that it is not him (he is 3 inches shorter and is circumcised). Collins rails against the smarmy detective (Jeffery Donovan in pure slimeball mode) who found the boy. Her complaints are largly ignored...except for a priest (John Malkovich in a refreshing portrayal of non righteous faith) who is active against LAPD corruption.
Sensing a PR nightmare, the police have Christine committed to a mental hospital full of women whose only crime was to get on the bad side of a cop. While all this is happening, a rare sympathetic detective (Michael Kelly) follows a lead to a farm outside of Winesville, California, where the bodies of 20 young boys were discovered and where Walter may have met his end. In the hospital, Collins is tormented for not giving up her belief that the police lied to her and that the son delivered to her was in fact not hers. This all leads to climactic events that make you feel anger, pain, sadness and (suprisingly) hope.
The acting in this work is top notch. Jolie makes us feel the pain running through every inch of Christine Collins with just broken blue eyes, ruby lips, and a flapper hat that can't hide her devistation. This is acting of the highest quality and I do hope that the academy takes notice. The supporting players are also brilliant. Amy Ryan is wonderful as a patient in the mental hospital who holds secrets and quiet anger. Malkovich, Donovan, and Kelly all hit the right notes in characters that could have been played for characature.
The most haunting performance comes from Jason Butler Harner as Gordon Northcott, a child murderer who may have added Walter's name to his list of 20 children. He is terrifying when we are shown how he grabs a child from his farm's chicken coop, takes him to another room and kills him with an ax. He also oozes a disturbing charm when he tricks children into his truck and talks to reporters with a sinister half smile. His most devistating scene is when he is speaking one on one with Collins and claiming that God has forgiven him for his sins and that his biggest fear is to go to hell after he dies. It is a truly terrifying and oddly engrossing performance. Harner does things with disturbed villainy that other actors couldn't even hope to do. Harner deserves an oscar nomination...hell he should win the damn thing for his scary and memorable portrayal of a child murderer.
Still, above all else, this is Eastwood's show. He fills every scene with an authenticity that is rarely seen in movies today. In an industry where most value style over substance, Eastwood is the rare filmmaker that isn't afraid to let a film unspool and hook us in. "Changeling" touches on every feeling that it attempts to grasp. It is terrifying, heroic, and devistatingly sad. Eastwood has given audiences the richest filmgoing experience of the year and that is the greatest gift that comes with "Changeling," a masterpiece that is full of rich suprise and undeniable life.
Angelina Jolie is nothing short of remarkable as Christine Collins, a phone switch board supervisor in 1928 Los Angeles. Christine is a single parent who lives a wonderful life with her 9 year old son Walter...until the day that she comes home from work and finds that Walter is missing. She contacts the LAPD, who inform her that she would have to wait for 24 hours before action is taken to find her child. 5 hopeless months go by until she is greeted with the news that her son has been found in Illinois and will be immediately sent home to California. The LAPD, hoping for a photo op, arranges for Christine to have a tearful reunion with her son...except for the fact that the boy is not her son. She initially knows that it is not him (he is 3 inches shorter and is circumcised). Collins rails against the smarmy detective (Jeffery Donovan in pure slimeball mode) who found the boy. Her complaints are largly ignored...except for a priest (John Malkovich in a refreshing portrayal of non righteous faith) who is active against LAPD corruption.
Sensing a PR nightmare, the police have Christine committed to a mental hospital full of women whose only crime was to get on the bad side of a cop. While all this is happening, a rare sympathetic detective (Michael Kelly) follows a lead to a farm outside of Winesville, California, where the bodies of 20 young boys were discovered and where Walter may have met his end. In the hospital, Collins is tormented for not giving up her belief that the police lied to her and that the son delivered to her was in fact not hers. This all leads to climactic events that make you feel anger, pain, sadness and (suprisingly) hope.
The acting in this work is top notch. Jolie makes us feel the pain running through every inch of Christine Collins with just broken blue eyes, ruby lips, and a flapper hat that can't hide her devistation. This is acting of the highest quality and I do hope that the academy takes notice. The supporting players are also brilliant. Amy Ryan is wonderful as a patient in the mental hospital who holds secrets and quiet anger. Malkovich, Donovan, and Kelly all hit the right notes in characters that could have been played for characature.
The most haunting performance comes from Jason Butler Harner as Gordon Northcott, a child murderer who may have added Walter's name to his list of 20 children. He is terrifying when we are shown how he grabs a child from his farm's chicken coop, takes him to another room and kills him with an ax. He also oozes a disturbing charm when he tricks children into his truck and talks to reporters with a sinister half smile. His most devistating scene is when he is speaking one on one with Collins and claiming that God has forgiven him for his sins and that his biggest fear is to go to hell after he dies. It is a truly terrifying and oddly engrossing performance. Harner does things with disturbed villainy that other actors couldn't even hope to do. Harner deserves an oscar nomination...hell he should win the damn thing for his scary and memorable portrayal of a child murderer.
Still, above all else, this is Eastwood's show. He fills every scene with an authenticity that is rarely seen in movies today. In an industry where most value style over substance, Eastwood is the rare filmmaker that isn't afraid to let a film unspool and hook us in. "Changeling" touches on every feeling that it attempts to grasp. It is terrifying, heroic, and devistatingly sad. Eastwood has given audiences the richest filmgoing experience of the year and that is the greatest gift that comes with "Changeling," a masterpiece that is full of rich suprise and undeniable life.
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