Changeling Review by Mr. Zeddemore
I wish I could get away with just typing ‘wow’, and having that be my
review. In my hearts of hearts I know I can’t (it’s a crappy review) –
however, I think wow, in this case, sums up my feelings well.On the other hand, as I do have to explain myself…
Where do I begin?
A few years ago, I watched an Angelina Jolie film. Gone In Sixty Seconds, a remake of an earlier film. Her attempts at acting astounded me, and she had a rather horrible look. I’m a brave soul, so I reserved judgment until I saw another film with her featured. That film was Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
I didn’t like that. Not. One. Bit.
So I turned it off and thought to myself – why didn’t you like it? It quickly hit me. I didn’t find Angelina Jolie attractive enough that I could overlook her bad acting and the mediocre nature of the film. In this life, few things are as certain as the concept that a hot woman can sell an action film. A little sexist, sure, but it almost worked for Underworld (almost in that, while horrendously awful is rather foxy.)
At any rate, I wasn’t a fan.
So the years would go by, and she’d be up for awards. I would sigh deeply, and curse the Oscars. If anyone asked I just said ‘not a fan’, and left it that.
I did see Hackers, mind. It was on TV, I was bored. It’s a great piece of Dumbhouse cinema, in that it’s filled with ‘hey it’s that guy’ type actors and has some tremendously dim-witted and insane logic when it comes to what computers can do. When a film is released nearly sixteen years ago, is set in the present, and yet is still more technologically advanced than we are in 2009 – well, you know that someone’s been hitting the reefer.
Then this film came out.
My attitude to films is simple. As a University student (MA in Scriptwriting), I often randomly decide to go and see something at the Art Center. Often it’s not something I’ve heard of or aspire to see, it’s something that sounds interesting when I’m browsing through the program guide.
Sometimes it works out (Changeling) and other times I go and see Zack and Miri (didn’t work out.)
It’s an odd system. I’m taking a leap of faith that the films will be good.
Changeling wasn’t good. It was amazing. And Angelina Jolie deserves as much credit for that as Clint Eastwood. We all know that he’s an unfussy director (I hate the word ‘unfussy’, but it’s the best way to describe him), and casts the best actors possible. He seems to give them the room to act, while shooting at a fast pace so they don’t have any time to waste.
This is the perfect pairing of actor to director.
She’s just amazing. This woman that I’ve disliked stunned me by delivering a powerful performance that was mixed with strength, love, vulnerability yet also a determination. When you see this film, you’ll watch the ultimate demonstration of love for a child as it blossoms into one of the strangest stories you will ever see in your life.
If they didn’t have ‘a true story’ before the film, you wouldn’t believe it was real.
No, you’d think it was ridiculously hard to fathom. Probably would be taken out of the flick. Even knowing its real, there’s so many sections that you question. Not in terms of the writing, acting or direction – more in terms of coincidences and oddly cinematic moments.
The shocking part is, it doesn’t.
Not completely, at any rate. The last gasp of the film is a little false in terms of shooting and acting, but I figure most films blow their gasket a lot sooner than that. To have a film that’s well over two hours long only struggle right at the end… that’s impressive.
In short, I dug it.
Four fences out of five.
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