Changeling is more emotionally compelling than most films released this calendar year. Only rivaled by There Will Be Blood and 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, this is gripping drama that takes you on a roller coaster of emotions throughout its lengthy but never boring 140 minute runtime. It’s never what you would call an easy watch and some scenes may even shock some people. But if it’s necessary, as it certainly is here, you can’t exactly hide what really happened if you’re using the term “based on a true story” as a selling point. It’s certainly often a tough watch but nevertheless rewarding.
Changeling does countless things right but a few wrong; it brings in one or two too many side plots that either don’t matter enough to spend time on or aren’t fully resolved, but these are irrelevant when you consider the bigger picture. Resisting the temptation to resolve itself too much, the film is open-ended, leaving the viewer at once satisfied and yearning for more. And this is a measure of how much the film holds you, how much it keeps your attention focused, and how much it draws emotion from you that other more mediocre films of late might have made you forget you even had. Where this sits in the body of Mr Eastwood’s work is hard to say but it's absolutely undeniable that it's a reminder of just how good a filmmaker he is.
Article comments
1 - Jack
I don't agree the film has too many - or even any - side plots. All the story strands relate ultimately to the main one - Christine's quest to find out what happened to her son. And a minor correction if I may. Jack Green was the cinematographer who shot Unforgiven, not Tom Stern. Otherwise an excellent review.
One thing that most impressed me about Changeling was how well Eastwood's film kept my attention. From an editing perspective it's a top notch piece of work. There weren't any saggy moments or scenes that felt as though they could have been trimmed, which, in a two hour & 21 minute movie was quite something.
Aside from anything else Changeling struck me as a potent reminder of the sheer pleasure to be had from watching the proverbial good story well told. I found its themes & concerns - particularly the way a mother is blamed for her child's welfare by incompetent/corrupt authority figures - deeply & troublingly resonant. It seems to me that no other living American director can match Eastwood right now. The man is simply in a class of his own.
2 - Wendy
Such a nice review! This movie wasn't perfect, indeed it was quite flawed in many aspects, but there was something about it that left me breathless by the time the credits started rolling. And I'm not easily impressed! This was a trademark Clint Eastwood film, but I felt it was very different from his other works such as Million Dollar Baby. For once, I had no problem with Angelina Jolie's acting - so powerful yet understated - although her character was too saintly for my taste. Finally, Hollywood did something right!
Above all, it was the story that had the biggest impact on me, and I hope I can find a movie or book as good as Changeling. As soon I finished watching the movie in the theater, I rushed home to look up the real story. It's truly devastating.
If you’re a fan of the movie Changeling and want to know the backstory of Sanford Clark and Gordon Northcott, I just learned that writer Anthony Flacco has a publishing deal with Sterling for The Road Out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders. It’s being described as a psychological thriller written in cooperation with the adult living son of Sanford Clark. The book, I’m told, will be out in Fall ’09.