Clint Eastwood's Changeling stars Angelina Jolie (wearing red, red lipstick on those bee stung lips and a terrific hat) as a working single mother in the late 1920s whose son goes missing. When he is returned to her five months later, she is certain the he is not the same boy. He's a different boy. He's three inches shorter than the pencil marking on the wall. He's been circumcised. He doesn't remember his elementary school teacher.
The corrupt police chief doesn't want his mistake to be exposed and puts Jolie into a mental institution -- which turns out to be chock full of women who have tried to cross the LA police, including Amy Ryan as a prostitute with a heart of gold.
Why this film was chosen as the Centerpiece for the 2008 New York Film Festival is beyond me. Eastwood's film, based on a true story, is a slick studio production with an A-list star and doesn't need the support offered by its inclusion at an prestigious fest. Also, it's a terrible film. The second half of Changeling becomes a by-the-book courtroom drama about the case of a gruesome serial murderer who lured boys into his car and hacked them to pieces. The film features an extended hanging scene, drawn out to its agonizing fullest. Why Clint Eastwood felt compelled to tell this story, I can not say.
Recently, I read a novel called The Changeling by Joy Williams, rereleased for its thirtieth anniversary. A young mother's infant son is returned to her after a plane crash; he is not the boy he used to be. Unlike Eastwood, Williams offers no tangible explanation for the transformation. The boy is a genuine changeling. The book is wonderful.
Eastwood's Changeling screened last night at the NYFF. The film opens in limited release on October 24th, 2008. [posted by Marcy] **
Comments
If you really want to know what compelled Clint Eastwood to make this movie – and not just asking a rhetorical/hypothetical question, read the reports from the Q&A with him before the NYFF screening as well as the reports from Cannes.
Please don’t play the naif, you know that slick Hollywood productions have been screened at film festivals from Sundance to Toronto to Venice (thin this year) to Cannes to the Hamptons. The films get the cachet of being in a festival, the festival gets the money and publicity the Hollywood stars bring.
This is one of the most powerful films I’ve ever seen. It’s a story quite worth telling and I thank Clint Eastwood for doing so. Your review of the film baffles me and I can only wonder if you have an axe to grind with Mr. Eastwood, Ms. Jolie or “slick” Hollywood productions.
Thanks Scott and Ligaya for your comments. In retrospect, I regret the flip tone of this short review. No axes to grind. I’m glad that Eastwood’s film was able to connect with an audience.
I like the movie, but thought it lacked emotion on the part of Angelina. As a mother of four children, I would have ran screaming my house if I had come home to a missing child. She was too calm for reality.She kept this somber look on her face throughout the movie and there were times I wanted to see her actually get frantic, loud and just flip out, bvyt she only did once when she visited the killer in prison. Great story line but a bit flat in the emotions dpt.
Eastwood should be embarrassed he did not credit Joy Williams for the “idea” of the film. I know they are different, but this is Williams idea. Eastwood is such a hack director by the way