Balek's Movie Review™ - Changeling

"Fuck you, and the horse you rode in on."

Every movie has a target audience. If you’re not a pre-pubescent girl, then I don’t suspect you’re excited to see the latest High School Musical movie. Only people that are more than just a little twisted are lining up to see what Jigsaw has planned in Saw V. Finally, anyone in the market for an excellent drama, and even more importantly is a parent, should get in line to see Clint Eastwood’s latest movie, Changeling.

I’ll try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible. The movie stars Angelina Jolie as a single mother in the late 1920s trying her best to raise a polite, responsible, and all around good boy. She works hard, and loves her son without limits. However, after being called into work sudden notice, and leaving her son at home for the day, she returns to find he is gone. What follows is a search to find him, not with the help of the L.A.P.D. as one would think, but rather struggling against an organization bereft with abuse of power, corruption, and a lack of humanity in the grandest sense of the word. After a short while, the police return her ‘son’ to her, but she is immediately aware that the delivered boy is an imposter. I can’t go into more details here without spoiling the plot, but the movie is based strongly on a true story – a fact that makes what is portrayed more disturbing than any bit of pure fiction.

The cast of the movie is rather limited due to the script and lack of depth in developed characters, but those that do play in the movie do well. Jolie is stunning both physically (not any surprise there) but more importantly emotionally. I am not sure what she tapped into for the role, but the effects of the events that impact her are palatable. She is taken to the very depths of despair, but somehow finds the inner courage and strength to continue fighting for her son. All in all, she delivers a convincing performance and one that may find her with a Best Actress nomination or two when the time comes. In a smaller role, John Malkovich does as he always does – command your attention. Finally, an unknown Jason Butler Harner portrays evil and depravity so well you start rooting for him to fall.

Technically, the setting is done well and believably. You feel like you’re in the swinging 1920’s, and get an idea of what it was like both for the men and women of the era. This isn’t an action movie or the like, so sound design and effects are minimal at best, but what did strike as better-than-average was the musical score. It matched with the pacing and timing of the movie well, hitting strongly at certain points to amplify what was going onscreen to another level. Kudos to the production for getting that right.

All in all, a much better experience than I was anticipating based on the initial reviews. I always love going into a movie with mild expectations and being blown away. Changeling did just that, and I’m happy to say earned my ever-limiting entertainment dollars.