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A change of pace for Eastwood in 'Changeling'
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Changeling
I wasn't born when the first Dirty Harry picture came out (sorry if I just made anyone feel old), but I'm pretty sure if I had been and I had been old enough to talk about these things, I wouldn't have said something like "That guy is going to be one of the greatest directors ever," even though that was right around when he began his directing career. Yet here we are and Clint Eastwood has not only proved himself as a director with films like Million Dollar Baby and Letters From Iwo Jima but done it on an Oscar worthy level. Changeling might not be the landmark film that his previous two were, but beyond a shadow of a doubt it proves that the man is a brilliant director.
Based on the true story of the Wineville Chicken Coup Murders Changeling is most powerful when it is dealing with issues of motherhood and least powerful when it falls into the trap of good versus evil. The story alone is powerful and shocking enough to warrant a viewing. In 1920's LA a rash of children went missing, one of which was Walter Collins, the son of single mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie). A few weeks later the LA police, who have been run by corruption, bring her a young boy who clearly is not her son and force him upon her. After protesting that the child is not hers, Collins is thrown in a psychiatric ward until it is discovered that her child may have been murdered by a serial killer.
As I said, the story alone justifies a movie and only the most incompetent director would fail to deliver an emotionally charged film. Eastwood, however, is not an incompetent director and makes the film one of the prettiest and best directed of the year. His skill at capturing both emotion and story are second to none and it's hard to find a flaw in anything he does.
This is especially true when he manages to pull such raw emotions out of all the actors. Jolie is sickly skinny in the film, but still powerfully present. Scenes dealing with motherhood are some of the most powerful in the film and it's clear Jolie delved deeply into the roll. She basically carries the film, having more than twice the screen time of almost any other actor in the movie. This doesn't mean that the supporting cast falters though. Strong performances all around, especially from Jeffery Donovan who I hope will start to get more starring roles thanks to his turn as corrupt police Captain J.J. Jones. The only real issue in performances is with the child actors, which is upsetting since they are in such crucial scenes.
As a whole though the film never really takes off into the realm of something special. It seems a little to hampered with good versus evil, instead of actually looking at the story. The last line of the film is so cliche it seems almost tacked onto the rest of the film; as if the screenwriters who wrote the rest up and quit and they had to bring in some guy who just got off of writing the latest action movie. Maybe Eastwood was tired of films that end depressingly, but overall the film's message of hope and persistence comes across more cliche than powerful.
Eastwood is a master of directing. There is no argument there, and so, even a film that falls too often into conventional film making, comes out with powerful performances and absolutely stunning direction. The real question is if Changeling is good enough to net Eastwood another award. I would argue no, but not to worry, he's still got Gran Torino coming out this year too.
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