Thanks to a tip from a reader, The Changeling has changed its name to “The Exchange,” according to Screen Daily. Variety’s Todd McCarthy gives it high praise, “emotionally powerful and stylistically sure-handed”:
A dozen filmmakers could have taken a dozen different approaches to the same material — sensationalistic, melodramatic, expose-minded, a kid’s or killer’s p.o.v., and so on. Perhaps the best way to describe Eastwood’s approach is that he’s extremely attentive — to the central elements of the story, to be sure (with its echoes of “A Perfect World”), but also to the fluidity between the private and the public, the arbitrariness of life and death, the distinct ways different people view the same thing, the destructive behavior of some adults toward children and the quality of life in California around the time he was born.
And Cinematical says:
Clint Eastwood’s Changeling (which may or may not be now known as The Exchange), is a riveting drama about a missing boy and the undying constancy of a mother’s love. Angelina Jolie excels in a powerful performance as Christine Collins, whose nine-year-old son, Walter, disappeared in 1928. Five months later, police returned to her a boy they said was Walter; Christine alleged that the boy was not her son.
And Richard Corliss of TIME says:
Changeling is an epic, fact-based story — depicting sadistic, systematic corruption in the municipal government, the police department and the medical establishment of 1920s Los Angeles — that has the novelty of being virtually unknown today. It juggles elements of L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia, The Snake Pit and any number of serial-killer thrillers. But at its center are the heartache and heroic resolve of a woman who has lost the one person she loves most and is determined to find him, dead or alive, against all obstacles the authorities place in her way. In that sense the movie is a companion piece to last year’s Cannes entry A Mighty Heart, in which Jolie played the wife of kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl — except that Changeling is far more taut, twisty and compelling.
He closes his rave this way:
With flaring red lipstick on a face that hasn’t seen much time in the California sun, and with a grieving matched in severity only by her will to learn the truth, Jolie carries the burden of the first hour. As the story expands, and finds new avenues of real-life horror, Jolie can coast on the narrative instead of having to push it with her grit and tears. The movie becomes an ensemble piece, with a dozen or so character actors carrying the storyline. In other words, Changeling is exactly as good as its makings. By the end, with its purposeful accumulation of depravities, both individual and institutional, Eastwood’s non-style has paid off; the story’s weight could come close to burying you in despair.
You may ask: There’s that much evil in the world? And Clint, thinking more about storytelling craft than Cannes crockery, would say, Sure. But there are heroes too. And this time, the righteous gunslinger is a mom with no weapon but her inexhaustible love.
Well, here you go, folks. A true Best Picture contender out of Cannes.
No Response for "‘The Exchange’ Rave Reviews"
jolie is our first dead cert actress nominee,i think she is seen as tabloid but the amount of praise last year and the outcry over her snub will help her lots this year,she is def in!!!!
Hmm, so we have a movie that is both an overpowering journey into a heart of darkness, yet balanced by a strong willed heroine & a redemptive ending strong enough to move viewers to tears. We have a film that is a powerful actors vehicle for Jolie yet also a strong ensemble piece. We have a film that like Million Dollar Baby & Mystic River begins as a genre piece but then defies generic expectations; Jolie’s quest for her missing son is no Erin Brockovich-style tale of female empowerment. When she gets slung into an asylum Eastwood’s movie avoids becoming another nut house melodrama. In short Changeling deftly sidesteps all the cliches while exploring issues of family, police & community that have just as much resonance today. Wow, certainly looks as though Clint has done it again. And he’s got another movie, Gran Torino, due out later this year! Incredible.
This is nothing to do with my personal feelings towards Clint Eastwood’s films, but I don’t think he’s ever going to be panned by a major critic ever again.
SO HAPPY!
i dont wanna jinx it – but from all I am reading: ANGELINA WILL GET A NOMINATION THIS YEAR (she was all but robbed last year … and reviews are saying this performance is even stronger than Mighty Heart – GREAT)
Not an Eastwood fan, but I always hope the movie is great. AJ is a marvelous actress.
Yeah, not necessarily a fan of Eastwood or Angelina, but I really wanted to see this so I’m happy.
Hope it does not get jinxed with the annual front runner status
Don’t like the title change, CHANGELING sounded perfect for it.
I am exhilarated about all this praise… especially for the writer of this movie, J.-Michael Straczynski. Some of you may remember him from Babylon 5 (sci-fi TV series in the mid-90s) and he’s simply a fantastic writer with a great sense for drama and razor-sharp dialogue.
It does my soul good to see he’s finally made it to the top with this movie. He arrived a long time ago, but only now he’s actually *there*.
Ta & tata,
CK
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