If Angelina Jolie doesn’t win an Oscar for her performance in new movie Changeling, I’ll go home and pickle my walnuts, writes our Movie Blogger Carl Jones.
Yes, yes, I know I’m only nicking a phrase from Strictly Come Dancing’s head judge Len Goodman, but like the king of the BBC dancing show’s panel whose blood boiled at John Sergeant’s public popularity, I’ve returned from a preview of her latest movie in a similarly frustrated mood.
In today’s Shropshire Star, Jolie tells my colleague Sunita Patel how she’s seriously contemplating turning her back on movie making to become a full time mum and concentrate on her ambassadorial work with the United Nations.
And that would be a huge loss - not just to legions of male fans who lap up her Lara Croft curves and action woman persona, but to film conoisseurs who appreciate that she’s much more than just a pretty face.
It’s eight years since she won a best supporting actress Academy Award for her rough and ready turn in Girl: Interrupted, and in Clint Eastwood’s latest movie she delivers another towering performance which is arguably even better.
Her raw emotion and simmering anger at the injustice of her incredible predicament is a powerhouse performance in an emotional rollercoaster of a movie about a mum who loses her son, then is forced to take in an imposter who mysteriously re-appears several months later.
It’s a harrowing drama, beautifully photographed and directed with delicate, laid-back style - don’t be put off by the two-and-a-quarter hour running time, because it flies by.
The story’s so far-fetched that it’s incredible to think it’s completely true.
So Angelina, please . . . think about the importance of work-life balance, and don’t turn your back on a career when you’re clearly right at the top of your game.
* Don’t miss my in-depth review of Changeling, and the week’s other main releases, in Friday’s Shropshire Star and check out the Changeling film trailer below.
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IT IS WONDERFULL
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