Thursday 4th December

Changeling

Director: Clint Eastwood
Year: 2008
Stars: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Michael Kelly

It's not often that a film comes along and restores my faith in the cinema, or movies in general. The last time it happened was with Pirates of the Carribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (the first one). That was a swashbuckling, fun, I-want-to-watch-it-over-and-over-again movie experience. Changeling is none of the things on those list. But it DID restore my faith in cinema. It has to be one of the best films I've seen at the cinema for some time now.

The film is based on a true story - that of a mother whose son goes missing. The LAPD return a boy to the mother, claiming it's her son. She insists it isn't. The story starts there, but there's a lot more to it than that. The film is part mystery, part mother's story. The beauty of the film is that it never tries to be more than it should be. It simply focuses on the story in question, letting events unfold as they would have at the time. Additionally, not one of the actors overdoes it, as could so easily have happened. Often in films like this I can feel the actor/ actress implicitly screaming "give me an Oscar". Angelina Jolie could have so easily fallen into this trap, but doesn't. Her performance reminded me of an improved version of her role in Girl, Interrupted and could very possibly be her best yet. You truly believe you are watching Christine Collins, not Angelina Jolie.

There's nothing not to recommend this film. And it's not often I say that.

Rating: 5 out of 5

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About Me

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I live in Bristol with my husband Dan (who I married in July 2007), my son Joe (born 2012) and daughter Jess (born 2015). I work at UWE (the University of the West of England) in Bristol as a Research and Open Access Librarian. I'm orginally from Exeter, so moving back to Bristol is a bit like coming home - especially as I studied for my undergraduate degree here (also at UWE). I love travelling and movies, although I get to do a lot less of both since the birth of our children. Although we have still managed to fit in holidays to the Isles of Scilly, Chamonix and a summer in California since Joe was born.