Changeling: Thoughtful review
Changeling starts with a crane down to the city. It ends with the camera returning to the sky. Its like Eastwood is descending into LA of 1928 to tell us a little bit of a tale. And then returning to today. Its something between a story and a tale. If it wasn't for the suspense it would be an out and out tale. LA has been painted in a minimalistic way. Something one doesn't get to see with period films. But then, LA in Changeling is as lyrical as Madisson County or Iwo Jima. The gruesome story doesn't take away the beauty of a complex city.
Photography by Tom Stern has one very interesting aspect to it. Rarely does one get to see a harsh backlight look beautiful. Shots of Jolie with the sun glaring down on her hair look quite stunning. Fill light was avoided, maybe for greater emphasis on the subject. Anamorphic format, as Eastwood is said to prefer, and some lovely warm toplights. The production design is an achievement, seamlessly bringing together CGI landscapes and real locations. Eastwood's by now famous 'economical' directing style lends amazingly restrained grammar.
Changeling is the story of a woman whose son vanishes. The police return a boy she is sure is not her son. But they insist he is. She tries to persuade them and then fights them. They declare her delusional and lock her up in a mental asylum. The story has an open ending and has been criticised as having been filmed in a manner too conventional. The way Eastwood cloaks technical achievements with moody storytelling is no conventional way. Its something which can be seen in most of his films. Sight and Sound recently ran a story on Clint Eastwood. They wrote a fantastic question on the cover- The greatest director in America? I was surprised, not because I disagree, but because I thought I was among the very few who revere that guy. I read that piece sitting in landmark, near the magazine shelf, mainly due to lack of money. A great piece no doubt, but it had very little to do with his film craft. In a couple of places they did mention his mise-en-scene but never went into more. I wanted more, much more. Man, Clint Eastwood's got to be studied, admired, etc. etc.
I was searching for a motivating factor for his simple and moody mise-en-scene. I found it when reading on his economy of style. No extra or exaggerated gestures or movements. Not by the camera and not by the actors. But there is thought. The spaces he used are exactly those as demanded by the story and stylistic content is near zero.
Music scored by Clint Eastwood. Starts with some piano. The strings rise slowly to a full orchestra.
Comments( 7 )
Fine piece of writing... but too short.
Fine piece of writing... but too short. Critique some forgotten or popular films. It's high time you did one.
I second Anirban
I second Anirban :smile:
will try... too short? what more would
will try... too short? what more would you like?
Hey! This is a review! The other day
Hey! This is a review! The other day Bikas n me fought in DearCinema office on what is a review, and what should be its ideal length.
Soon you are going to make your own films. So we expect kind of write ups from you that befit a director's. Critique the film -- the plot structure, the narrative, the narration, the narrativity, the characters, politics of the narrative, politics of the narration (that means both the screenplay and the editing) , how the images (both audio and video) add up to the politics, how it could have been bettered, the acting, the sets, the costumes -- take up everything one by one and present to us a beautiful anatomy of a film, in relation to the bigger context of the other films of that period, of that genre, and other cinemas around the world.
There are so much to write about. Writing on a film should be ideally another film (what Godard practiced). In words, that can at best be a theoretical film. But, let it be so. At least give us that much.
God bless Bikas for seconding me
God bless Bikas for seconding me :lol:
Thats too little. A review should also
Thats too little. A review should also have the director's and other cast and crew's complete biography and an account of each day of shoot. Then it should excogitate the effect it had on each and every member of the world audience. In the end every reviewer should analyze what is expected of him or her and write another few thousand words on it. When the book is ready dearcinema will publish it and Anirban Lahiri can sign the cover.
Ooph... that was not a
Ooph... that was not a joke.