Changeling kind of seems out of place at NYFF 46. It’s a big budget Hollywood drama with a big star and a big director. But you know what? I don’t care, because Clint Eastwood is one of the best men working in cinema today and accusing him of working in the system is like calling out Steven Spielberg for always doing adventure films. Look at the last four films he did—Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, and then the companion pieces Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. All are simply powerful films, run by Eastwood’s beautiful shot composition, and the amazing performances and scripts (well, Flags is a little disappointing).

    So his new film Changeling, which was chosen as the centerpiece of the festival, might not fit in the same sort of small independent thinkers that populate the rest of the festival, but the thematic material of a machine that attempts to control reigns over.

    It of course helps your film get attention when you cast the biggest movie star in your lead—Ms. Angelina Jolie. Jolie is often given more time off screen in tabloids than on screen, and Changeling will remind people why she deserves attention. She plays Christine Collins, a single mother in Los Angeles 1928. One day her son Walter goes missing. After a long search, the police find him and return him. There’s just one problem—Christine knows that the boy returned is not her son. Has she gone crazy, or is there a greater cover up?

    Many people will probably accuse Jolie of simply being a walking Oscar clip montage. It is true that she is given countless big scenes. But I watched the build up to those scenes or the quiet after them. You see the ferocity and intensity that Jolie brings to such a character. Big props as well to John Malcovich (Burn After Reading) and Jeffery Donavan (Burn Notice) who nicely round the cast.

    Eastwood is of course back at the top of his game. He’s drains the color, creating both an authentic look and a sorrowful look that fits the tone of his film. Many of shots are astoundingly created—just as in Million Dollar Baby, his use of shadows to hide the truth is amazing, and a wonderful shot near the end of the film, where Christine’s face reflects back on us as she looks on to a sight, is particularly catching.

    Yet Changeling isn’t a flawless film—or at least it had a chance. The film, written by J. Michael Straczynski, is a powerful drama that totally drives you in, but then unfortunately over welcomes its stay. There was a moment in the film, where I thought if it had ended there, the film could have been perfect. Instead Eastwood and Stracynski draw it out for another half hour. I have no problem with long films, but I have a problem with films that don’t need to be long, but demand it. The film has what seems like countless epilogues—some which do work—but mellow the emotional impact of the film.

    But in the end, Changeling is one of those great big sweeping dramas that Oscar votes will go nuts for. They aren’t completely unjustified—Eastwood has once again turned in a beautiful film that will take you on a dramatic ride of emotions. It’s his specialty.

BACK TO NYFF 2008 PAGE