Changeling
Who would’ve thought it back in his Rowdy Yates days? Or in his Dirty Harry or Man With No Name phases, for that matter? But Clint Eastwood has become one of the most reliable directors in Hollywood, and his movies have won not one but two Best Picture Oscars. And I know there are people reading this for whom that doesn’t mean jack — after all, Crash won Best Picture, too — but it generally denotes a certain level of craftsmanship and filmmaking prowess. And certainly Unforgiven (1992), a dark, dystopian Western if there ever was one, deserved all the praise it got. I’m not so sure about Million Dollar Baby (2004), his second Oscar winner . . . manipulative and clichéd, it was saved for me by its noirish cinematography and Eastwood’s own performance as a crusty old boxing promoter.
Changeling is not as good as Million Dollar Baby, and certainly not the film Unforgiven is. Detailing a sad episode in the history of Los Angeles Police Department, it follows Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) as she goes to work one day, returns home and finds her son Walter missing. Months later, the police show up with a boy claiming to be her son, but who clearly is not. When she refuses to accept him, and the LAPD is in danger of being embarrassed, they harass her mercilessly, vilify her in the press, and even commit her to an asylum. Meanwhile, Detective Lester Ybarra (Michael Kelly) stumbles upon the traces of a serial murderer in the small town of Wineville. It turns out the murderer — who is said to have killed some twenty children — has decamped to Canada, but an accomplice identifies Walter as one of the victims.
Eastwood has more than once cited his mentor Don Siegel for teaching him how to work fast, and to say what he has to say with the bare minimum of muss and fuss. And internally, i.e., between shots and scenes, this economy can be seen. Shots last just as long as necessary, and no longer, and the same can be said about the scenes that they comprise.
The same cannot be said about the film as a whole, however, and the problem is largely in the script by J. Michael Straczynski. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving: just when you think it’s over, and you’ve got this cathartic moment and all, it moves on towards another one. And then, when that one’s over, it heads for yet another. It just doesn’t know when to quit. Although Straczynski wrote several versions at the producers’ request, Eastwood reportedly insisted on filming his first draft. Maybe he should have listened to the producers — lopping off about 30 minutes, including all those extra endings, would have been a good thing.
And while we’re on the subject of flaws, when is Eastwood going to write a new score? He’s recycled the same four-note melody line at least three times now. As I watched Jolie confronting the police over her missing child, I half expected Little Bill Daggett to step out of a cab instead of the Chief of the LAPD.
But I digress . . . Changeling does have its good points: the acting is first rate, especially from Jolie and Michael Kelly, as the only sympathetic cop in all of Los Angeles. The production and costume design (by James J. Murakami and Deborah Hopper, respectively) combine to create a 1928 Los Angeles that is detailed and authentic. And truth be told, the story is compelling and, at times, well-told; it’s just that there’s too much of it. Three endings is, after all, two too many.
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Hmm, not sure about Straczynski, but Clint usually delivers. I’ve seen some mixed reviews, but I will watch it myself when it comes out on DVD.
I’d say the same thing, Jorn . . . watch it on DVD. Eastwood is reliable, and there’s a lot to be said for this one. Its just that it seems to never end. Which is odd, because he generally knows how to end a picture.
Indeed Rick, I also found Straczyski’s script as the biigest issue with this film. I was fortunately enough to see it last month at the NYFF, and my review is already a month old, but I seem to have made the same disclaimers as you have here. And while LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA was for me one of the great films of the new millenium, and Eastwood’s greatest ever (even eclipsing the justly revered UNFORGIVEN) I was no fan of MILLION DOLLAR BABAY at all, as it was (as you contend in your mixed appraisal) manipulative.
The craftsmanship in CHANGELING is irrefutable: the clothes, the cars, the buildings, the muted color scheme and asurprisingly effective Eastwood score that pensively essays the proceedings–all are exemplary. And the performances are uniformly solid–even Jolie’s, altyhough she cries an awful lot.
Alas though, as you pasically pinpoint in other vernacular–this is an “all surface” film that doesn’t probe even remotely deep enough in to the psychology of the characters. It’s engrossing, and not boring at all, but it’s not at all challenging either. And the forced hospital stay–the most infuriating plot element– is a cross between ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST and L.A. CONFIDENTIAL. It’s all black and white.
In any case, I do think we’re on the same page, and I completely agree with you on the point you made about the “episodic” nature of the script. Another outstanding and perceptive review at Coosa Creek Cinema.
Sam, thanks … I think we agree on most points, but I find his scores beautiful but repetitive. As I mentioned, I think the score for this one is basically the same as that for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. I think Eastwood should really consider hiring one of the fine film composers working today, like Carter Burwell . . . and can you imagine this film scored by Morricone? I can …
Ha, great last line in your review there, Rick. I completely agree and was unphased by much of Changeling. In fact I had more problems with it than you, but we’re on the same page that this was a decent story that was poorly told. Still, count me in for Gran Torino.
Thanks, Daniel. I’m looking forward to Gran Torino as well.
This thing just sounds so…odd, to me. And not really in a bad way. That might have something to do with the fact that I’ve been skimming reviews, so I only get bits of plot synopses, but those bits sound like they come from different movies, and the fact that they are all from the same movie just makes me really intrigued. Rick, I’ve heard criticism similar to yours — and, frankly, much worse — and I share your views on both Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, but personally I’m very much looking forward to this one.
Bill, parallel to the main plot, with Jolie, is the subplot about the investigation and capture of the perpetrator of the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, who kidnapped Jolie’s character’s son. Though I haven’t read a lot of other reviews, I suspect that how the synopsis is balanced between these two plots, plus whether it goes into any depth about her incarceration in a loony bin, which for my mind is one of the weakest plot points, all Olivia-deHavilland-snake-pit as it is.
There is just too much going on in this film, in my not-so-humble opinion. Somebody should have told the screenwriter that you don’t have to put in everything you know in a two-hour script.
Of course, as always, ymmv.