Changeling
- Title: Changeling
- IMDB: link
Based on a true story the film, set in Los Angeles of the 1920’s, tells the tale of Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) and her missing son.
When the police reunite her with who they believe to be her son Collins quickly finds plenty of evidence to support her own feelings that this boy is not Walter. Attempts to get the police to acknowledge their mistakes fall on deaf ears and eventually Collins is thrown into an asylum for her “irrational” behavior. Cue the inevitable electro-shock scene.
Director Clint Eastwood gives us a terrific looking picture filled with crazy and bizarre events. However the film’s mood is never quite right and many of the disturbing events, such as the inane explanations in the change of Walter by the officer in charge (Jeffrey Donovan) and a doctor (Peter Gerety), come off silly rather than menacing.
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Sports movies are often filled with cliché and usually fall into one of two categories – the underdog who makes good (Rocky, Seabiscuit, Major League, Hoosiers, Miracle, Blue Crush) or the team facing racial diversity (Remember the Titans, Pride, Glory Road). Although The Express falls into the later category it has enough of its own voice to separate it as something more than just another Titans knock-off. It’s not a great film, but it’s better than I expected.
The latest from Spike Lee is an adaptation of James McBride’s book itself inspired by events in Italy during WWII. A murder and the discovery of a priceless artifact lead to a tale forty-years before involving four African-American soldiers in a Tuscan village and a disturbed child, the lone witness to a monstrous act.