Changeling

Good God, this is a grueling motion picture, as well it should be. Angelina Jolie plays Christine Collins in this often hard-to-watch story of a mother searching for her lost boy. Based on a true story and directed by Clint Eastwood, the film is meticulously crafted. It’s a long movie but it goes by fast. Jolie does career best work as a woman who finds out the hard way that the Los Angeles police department isn’t the picture of decency. The film has many movements, and Eastwood never lets up on period detail (the infamous crimes depicted in the film happened in 1928). As the story unfolds, it’s hard to believe it’s based in reality. Jeffrey Donovan is almost too good as a crooked police captain, and John Malkovich is his usual excellent self as a preacher who hates on the police. Jason Butler Harner plays a very sick man named Gordon Northcott, and I won’t share any more details about him.