Changeling

When I first heard of Changeling it really didn't seem like my sort of film. The synopsis - missing son returns, but his mother believes that the police have brought the wrong child - has a lot of possibility, but it just never grabbed me. The film, or what I had heard about it until about two weeks ago, just really didn't feel like it was something that I would want to see.

But then I heard that the subject of the film wasn't quite the synopsis that I had heard. And so I took a chance and went to see a film about corruption, about murder, about loss... Angelina Jolie gives a great performance - quite different from anything else I've seen her in - but for my money the real acting highlights are the people who are opposite her, particularly Jeffrey Donovan, John Malkovich and Jason Butler Harner, all of who give brilliant performances. If I was giving out an award I would find it difficult to pick between the three of them.

My friend who I went to see it with was flabbergasted when I told him that I didn't think I had seen a film directed by Clint Eastwood before (since then I think I might have identified one of his films with the orangutan as one I've seen); on the strength and control displayed in Changeling I will definitely be filling out my list of classic films with entries from his body of work.