Current release: CHANGELING
Clint Eastwood's latest comes just in time for awards season and, like so many of his recent films, it would be a surprise if it didn't pick up a few along the way (although I suspect the biggies may well elude it).
The story is a belter and all the more powerful for it being based on a true story. Dedicated single mother Christine Collins (Angeline Jolie) finds her son Walter missing from home one day and after some time has passed is eventually reunited... with the wrong child. When she is forced to accept the stranger into her home, it becomes too much and what unfolds is a story of motherly devotion, moralistic heroes, a rotten police department and the birth of modern LA.
Beginning as an intimate drama about a mother searching for her son, the film opens up as it progresses until eventually it's an epic tale encompassing... ah, but that would be telling.
Eastwood certainly seems to have settled into a look now, and its more of the same for CHANGELING. The colours are muted to the point of being almost monochrome, the music dialled right back to a handful of chords, the photography being beautiful without showing off - if you've seen MILLION DOLLAR BABY, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA or FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, you know what I'm talking about.
It's a shame then that Eastwood couldn't have exercised the same restraint with a couple of other aspects of the production, namely Jolie's performance and some of the dialogue.
Don't get me wrong, Jolie's performance is powerful and can fairly be described as excellent. Unfortunately it's all a little too much at times - too many scenes scream "give me an Oscar" - and as she sheds tears, screams in anguish and quivers lips at the drop of a hat you can't help wondering if it's a deliberate decision to make it stand out against the more restrained film or if Eastwood simply forgot about his less-is-more mantra.
As for the dialogue, it's a shame to pick on it as the script, by J Michael Straczynski is otherwise flawless, but unfortunately it is weighed down a little too often by the sort of corny speeches that all too often plagued his TV work (he's the creator of the excellent, ground-breaking BABYLON 5).
"One thing I know is that boy gave me something I didn't have before."
"What's that?"
"Hope."
I mean, come on, who really speaks like that?
These are but minor quibbles however, and are more than made up for by yet another directorial triumph for Eastwood.
The story is a belter and all the more powerful for it being based on a true story. Dedicated single mother Christine Collins (Angeline Jolie) finds her son Walter missing from home one day and after some time has passed is eventually reunited... with the wrong child. When she is forced to accept the stranger into her home, it becomes too much and what unfolds is a story of motherly devotion, moralistic heroes, a rotten police department and the birth of modern LA.
Beginning as an intimate drama about a mother searching for her son, the film opens up as it progresses until eventually it's an epic tale encompassing... ah, but that would be telling.
Eastwood certainly seems to have settled into a look now, and its more of the same for CHANGELING. The colours are muted to the point of being almost monochrome, the music dialled right back to a handful of chords, the photography being beautiful without showing off - if you've seen MILLION DOLLAR BABY, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA or FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, you know what I'm talking about.
It's a shame then that Eastwood couldn't have exercised the same restraint with a couple of other aspects of the production, namely Jolie's performance and some of the dialogue.
Don't get me wrong, Jolie's performance is powerful and can fairly be described as excellent. Unfortunately it's all a little too much at times - too many scenes scream "give me an Oscar" - and as she sheds tears, screams in anguish and quivers lips at the drop of a hat you can't help wondering if it's a deliberate decision to make it stand out against the more restrained film or if Eastwood simply forgot about his less-is-more mantra.
As for the dialogue, it's a shame to pick on it as the script, by J Michael Straczynski is otherwise flawless, but unfortunately it is weighed down a little too often by the sort of corny speeches that all too often plagued his TV work (he's the creator of the excellent, ground-breaking BABYLON 5).
"One thing I know is that boy gave me something I didn't have before."
"What's that?"
"Hope."
I mean, come on, who really speaks like that?
These are but minor quibbles however, and are more than made up for by yet another directorial triumph for Eastwood.
posted by Alan at 1:13 pm
3 Comments:
I'd agree with you on most points there, except that I found Jolie's performance to be more restrained than I expected. The trailer set us up for scenes of tears and anguish, but I thought that it was only used when required, while the rest of the time her character remained quite composed. I read one review (on the Sunday Times)where she was actually criticised for lack of emotion, although I wouldn't agree with that myself.
I'm sure it will get plenty Oscar recognition but with the likes of Revoluntionary Road coming up, it might be overshadowed yet.
As you point out, the trailer really sets it up so maybe, having seen the trailer so many times, I saw just what I was expecting to see. I think the problem I had was not so much that there was so much of the over-acting as the fact that it seemed to come on like a lightswitch whenever it was required - there was no sense of a build-up.
I suspect you're right about it being overshadowed mind you, given that there's a slew of Oscar hopefuls coming out this month - and the odds currently being offered by the bookies on Jolie winning anything would seem to back that up!
Thanks for the comments.
Alan
PS Totally agree with your review of Kisses, which I loved when I saw it at Galway - I'll be sure to cover it again if anyone ever bothers to give it a UK release!
Thanks! Also I think you may have hit it on the head with what you said there..about how the emotional scenes came on like a lightswitch!
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