Angelina Jolie has come a long way from her kick-ass Lara Croft days, and it surely reflects in her performances. Changeling is her second most commendable performance, based on a true story (after The Mighty Heart), where she carries her grief with a superb composure, making the audience feel the pain of her character for real!
The strength of the movie is definitely the storyline, but like all Clint Eastwood movies the most powerful aspect is the character portrayed by Jolie - a career oriented single mother fighting the Los Angles police department, to search her lost 9 year old child, constantly denying to accept that the child found by the LAPD is hers... from grief to anger to frustration, to hope that her son is alive till the end, Jolie pulls off each melodramatic scene effortlessly. She is exceptionally strong is one scene and exceptionally vulnerable in the next…
What is also commendable is the archetypical portrayal of grief in Eastwood movies (Million dollar baby is still my fav)… its beautifully subtle… no shrieks, no howls… a calm and strong woman who breaks into sobs at times, but maintains her composure…and …that unspoken grief hits you much harder…
I can't say if Jolie deserved an Oscar for this, till I see Kate Winslet in The Reading, but her nomination was definitely well deserved. All in all, watch it for a Jolie good performance!
1 comment:
acchaa I haven't seen the movie as yet...added to my must watch list which is groing everyday!
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