Cannes ‘08: Pete Hammond’s Notes on a Season -- Eastwood’s ‘Changeling’ channels 1934 Oscar show

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In Clint Eastwood’s well-received Cannes competition entry, ‘Changeling,’ the four-time Oscar winner is out to prove the Academy Awards were just as big a deal in 1935 as they are now.

In the final minutes of the film we see a graphic on screen that says Feb. 27, 1935. A few years have passed since the kidnapping of Christine Collins’ (Angelina Jolie) son. Trying to help her get her life back together, a group of female co-workers invites Christine to come to the ‘movie awards’ listening party, but she begs off.

Then yet another male co-worker pops in to ask her if she’d like to come to his place and listen to ‘that academy show.’ First she says no, he leaves, but then she chases after him down the hall saying she has her money on ‘It Happened One Night’ while some are betting on ‘Cleopatra.’ Either way, she’s sticking with her choice.

Sign that woman up for the The Envelope’s Buzzmeter!

The whole scene, while offering a bright note, is kind of superfluous to the dark tone of the rest of the film, but could super savvy Clint’s homage to Oscars long ago strike a chord with today’s academy members?

We’ll have to wait until November when the film opens to find the answer.

-- Pete Hammond