The Good, the Bad and the Oscars…

Golden Globe and the Oscars are coming up – and two new Clint Eastwood films are nominated as usual. I can say as usual, as not only does nearly every film this genius makes gets nominated, he now delivers them in pairs. 2006 brought two war epics, Letters From Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers. This year we have The Changeling and Gran Torino. Unlike the first pair, this time I think there is a huge difference between the two: one is quite awful and the other is a masterpiece.

Usually when people are asked if they want to hear the good news or the bad news first, they ask for the bad news. So I’ll begin with…

Changeling

If it was possible, I’d have replaced the two-and-a-half hours spent watching this movie with two-and-a-half hours of a more enjoyable activity. Like going to the dentist. Or weeding.

Yes, there’s an Oscar buzz around the movie, including best actress for Angelina Jolie. So I have no choice but to assume the unpopular role of the little kid shouting “The emperor has no clothes!” (The movie, that is, not Eastwood.)

A single mother (Jolie)’s little kid goes missing. Five months later, he’s found by the police. Or so they insist. Jolie claims the boy is not her lost son.

I couldn’t believe that a movie based on a true story could be so farfetched, absurd and unrealistic.

The movie can be divided into four parts:
1. We get to know Jolie’s character and her son - similar to what would have happened if the Brady bunch were a single-parent family (up until the part where the kid disappears).
2. This could be titled: “That’s not my kid!” “Yes he is!”. It is without doubt the most ludicrous part of the movie. It works as a comedy, but I’m sure that wasn’t Eastwood’s intention. At a certain point, Jolie’s character says to a doctor sent by the police that it can’t be her child because hers is 8 centimeters taller. To that, the good doctor replies something like: He must have shrunk. It’s rare, but it happens…
3. We take an unexpected turn into a strange remake of an earlier Jolie movie, Girl, Interrupted - or if you prefer, a parody of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. This part could be summed up in one sentence as well: “Admit he’s your kid!” “I won’t admit it!”.
4. Spoiler Alert: In the most normal part, the movie turns into a courtroom drama and all the wrongdoers get what they deserve.

Jeffrey Donovan in the role of Cpt. Jones is familiar to those who watch the humorous action TV show Burn Notice. The show relies on fast-paced nonstop action. If it had relied on Donovan’s acting skills, it would have been canceled faster than Usain Bolt. Regrettably, Changeling does rely on Donovan’s acting skills. It’s quite embarrassing. The people in the casting department deserve justice Dirty Harry style.

Those who go easy on the movie say that the movie is thirty minutes too long. Being rational as I am, I’d say it’s two-and-a-half hours too long.

All in all, there is one cinematic achievement here: I’m sorry if it’s a sexist and banal remark, but Angelina’s lips just keep growing, it’s simply unavoidable not to relate to that. They are now undoubtedly the biggest lips ever seen on the silver screen. It is possible to create three different sets of lips out of them. Is that a good enough reason to watch Changeling? You be the judge.

Gran Torino

Some relate to this film as Dirty Harry – the pension years. I’d say it’s a touching, sincere, thoughtful and humorous drama. The story is about a tough, aging anti-hero who forms an unlikely friendship with two Asian teens. Through this, he contemplates and confronts his past as a soldier in the Korean War.

In the beginning of the movie we get to know Eastwood’s character - Walt, the tough, honest, callous and uncompromising war veteran, who lives by a set of rules and code of behavior that are the complete opposite of his teenage granddaughter. These contradictions between old and modern, and the way they are shown in the movie, offer a lot of laughs.

In the second part of the movie, we see that although Walt makes a lot of racist remarks, he befriends two Asian teenage siblings, a girl and a boy. This brings me to the conclusion that he might not be racist, but rather from an era before the concept of “politically correct.” The scenes in which he teaches the boy how to behave like a man are hilarious. It’s as if an aging Dirty Harry took the role of a mentor like Mister Miyagi in Karate Kid.

I don’t know if Eastwood’s acting is Oscar worthy, but his direction definitely is. He has pretty much the same facial expression during the entire movie, yet in every scene different feelings and emotions are conveyed.

I thought of a promotional suggestion to the distributors: throughout the movie, Eastwood spits gracefully (if there is such a thing as graceful spitting) numerous times. So I thought It would be amusing to see an edited clip of all of his spitting. To my surprise, just before uploading this post, I found the following trailer at Will Ferrel’s funnyordie.com. At least I can take comfort in the fact that great minds think alike…

So to sum up these pair of films, Gran Torino is terrific, maybe Eastwood’s finest, and I hope and bet this one will get him an Oscar. What a shame that Changeling is so far behind.

Think otherwise? Than go ahead, make my day and let me know…

Technorati Tags: Clint Eastwood, Golden Globes, Gran Torino, Oscars, Academy Awards, Changeling, Angelina Jolie, Movies

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