Inspired by a tragic real-life case, “Changeling” marks a dropoff from Clint Eastwood’s recent run of ambitious directing jobs. (He doesn’t appear in this one.) It’s a fervent melodrama about a missing child.
The actual case occurred in Los Angeles in 1928, when a boy named Walter Collins vanished. His mother Christine expended an enormous amount of energy (against truly ghastly obstacles) to locate him.
In the early reels of “Changeling,” we see a couple of the elements that might have attracted Eastwood to the project. One is the opportunity to direct a big, demanding female role, played by Angelina Jolie.
The other is the portrait of a governmental apparatus more concerned with public relations and spin than with telling the public the truth. Since Eastwood previously made an entire movie (a World War II movie, no less) on that subject, “Flags of Our Fathers,” it seems logical that he’d be into the idea here.
Oddly enough, both of these elements fade as the film goes on — Jolie gives up more screen time to other assorted characters, and the theme of official lying becomes a plot function more than anything else.
Nevertheless, the film’s melodrama is certainly expertly turned by Eastwood, even if scenes tend to be geared around simple good guy/bad guy encounters. Characters are painted in broad brush strokes, and audience applause is encouraged.
It helps that many of the supporting actors are fascinatingly cast. Jason Butler Harner, as a psycho, creates an eerie, almost ghostly madman, a role he probably won’t have an easy time shaking.
Equally good, if not as spectacular: Michael Kelly as a dogged detective, Jeffrey Donovan as an LAPD captain, and “Gone Baby Gone” Oscar nominee Amy Ryan as a psychiatric inmate. John Malkovich is in there too, as a radio preacher turning the screws on a corrupt police department.
As expected, Eastwood’s re-creation of the 1920s is impeccable. Jolie’s meek work in the early reels is fine and careful, although it’s difficult, as ever, for someone who looks like Angelina Jolie to play an ordinary person.
As a piece of storytelling, the film is sure-footed. What’s disappointing in screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski’s scheme is the blatant string-pulling of many scenes; Surely the story’s emotional punch is strong enough on its own. It should’ve been trusted.
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