Clint Eastwood’s overlong period piece “Changeling” is anchored by a resolutely eloquent performance from Angelina Jolie that just reeks of Academy appeal to the point that expectations have become a little too hot to handle. She pours her heart and soul into the role of Christine Collins, a telephone operator whose son goes missing in 1928 Los Angeles, but what does she get in return? The film has so many staggering scenarios taking place at once yet refuses to commit to any of them long enough to make a real statement. Is the child found really her son and, if so, where was he all that time? Also, if he’s not her son, who is the boy that was returned to her and why did the ham-fisted pen pushers at the LAPD think that she wouldn’t recognize her own flesh and blood?
Sure, these questions are answered to some degree, but something still didn’t sit well with me by the time film came to a close. Without spoiling too much, I’ll simply point out that this apparently true story takes a wicked left turn after the first hour and becomes something much more grim and sepulchral than previously expected. In reality, we’re given three interesting films all piled into one ambitiously dense project that is terrific at times, but rather pedestrian at others. The first involves a grieving mother forced to endure hellish treatment just to get her son home safely, the second is a murky courtroom exposé on widespread corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department, and the third is a subdued tale of how far some people are willing to fall in the name of justice. Individually, they may take on deeper sensibilities, but together they get bogged down by too many questionable alterations in tone.
On the bright side, Jolie and John Malkovich as a fiery pastor are stellar throughout and Eastwood’s ability to turn J. Michael Straczynski’s intriguing script into a compelling amalgam of utter chaos in 1930’s L.A. is reason enough to withstand the sections that fall short of greatness.
- *** out of 4
If “Gran Torino” is indeed Clint Eastwood’s swan song to the acting community, I’d say that he certainly went out with the kind of rugged explosiveness we’ve come to expect from the Hollywood legend. As bigoted Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski, he creates a gruff, weathered old iconoclast who guzzles beer on his porch and doesn’t take kindly to those who think he’s too old to engage in any form of manual labor. He’s the product of a do-it-yourself generation raised on consumption and optimism yet his experiences in combat have left him deeply embittered about the tenuous deterioration of the society around him. Think Harry Callahan on Medicare, because when health concerns arise, the thrill of the fight is simply too lucid to waste time in a doctor’s office waiting for test results.
Believe it or not, his only outlet for discussion appears to be an over-zealous priest interested in counseling him following the death of his wife, which of course Walt wants no part of. It’s not until a Hmong family moves in next door that we see him display any emotion other than fanatical profanity, so the chance for redemption actually seems like a welcomed addition to the Kowalski exterior. When the son of the family becomes involved in gang activity, Walt decides to take him under his wing and, in a sense, make him more of a son than his real son ever was. Their relationship is hostile at first, but as the gang’s pressure intensifies, the mutual respect they have for one another transcends whatever racial prejudice Walt still maintains after all these years.
Now, it wouldn’t be a Clint Eastwood movie without a little high-wire intensity to boot and after the gang attacks the boy’s sister, the revenge theme takes on a whole new dimension. Walt unleashes the arsenal through a series of bloody confrontations that leave him in a difficult situation regarding how everything is going to play out in the end. Never has the phrase “Get Off My Lawn” been played to such menacing effect and in the hands Walt it becomes a statement of virile intimidation designed to let people know he mean’s business.
Since Eastwood also directed, the plot trajectory is anything but upbeat, so don’t expect a fairy tale where everyone sits around reminiscing about the good ol’ days. This is a serious examination of a guy trying to get one last chance at a good deed that will finally put him at peace with his torrid past. My only complaint would be that the supporting cast wasn’t quite up to the challenge, but to watch Eastwood do what he does for possibly the final time is all any diehard cinephile can ask for.
- *** ½ out of 4
No comments:
Post a Comment