The Changeover is a 2019 thriller about a sixteen year-old girl who lives on the edge of their partially demolished hometown, drawn into a supernatural battle with an ancient spirit.
It’s not uncommon for teen films of late to adopt a larger apocalyptic theme to sort of symbolically give some color to tales of making the transition from child to adult. Most make it a rather complex and convoluted effort with bombastic visual effects and large-scale settings of epic redemption. With directors Miranda Harcourt and Stuart McKenzie‘s curious The Changeover, it’s a local affair with smaller aspirations, tracking the odyssey of a young woman on a peculiar journey, and while it might not resonate with fans of the genre looking for something familiar, it has plenty nestled in its many deep corners to make it more than usual teen drama.
In the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, sixteen-year-old Laura Chant (Erana James) spends much of her time taking care of her younger brother Jacko (Benji Purchase), their mother (Melanie Lynskey) struggling to get by in the wake of her husband’s death. Laura is a bit different though, able to sense things about to happen, though doesn’t quite understand what it means. Meanwhile, one day after school while walking home, she and Jacko encounter a strange man named Carmody (Timothy Spall). He lives in shipping container, surrounded by odd, broken trinkets, and seems drawn to the boy, soon offering him a stamp on his hand that at first seems harmless but is in fact, anything but. Realizing that Carmody has cast some dark spell on her brother, Laura seeks help from classmate Sorensen Carlisle (Nicholas Galitzine), a handsome young man who is part of a family of witches, offering to teach Laura to harness her powers and save Jacko.
Based on Margaret Mahy‘s award-winning 1984 novel of the same name, The Changeover is a dark adaptation that manages to find and tweak the more disconcerting edges of the book to mostly good results, made all the more so by some truly good performances all around. This is James’ feature film debut, she very convincing as a troubled teen wrestling with her little nightmare, something many more memorable names in the business fail to really do well. She feels pulled right off the lot of a real school and manages to brings some terrific authenticity to the story.
Sure, the mystical madness keeps this left of reality, but the filmmakers are wise in avoiding the more splashy visual-effects heavy pops and bangs that surely a larger studio-supported director might feel tempted to do. As such, this becomes a disquieting possession film, and generally a smarter one, relying on a teen girl to be its savior.
Nothing is taken for granted here, with the relationship between Laura and Sornsen not one filled with glittery images and somber stares but instant connection and a kind of acceptance that there exists in Laura’s world, supernatural forces that she is thickly part of. It works well and allows the story to be about Laurs true personal transformation without it being about sticky love connections. How refreshing.
Where The Changeover does best is in its commitment to psychological twists that keep the viewer constantly alert. Surely, many won’t find the appeal in that, this a decidedly low-key and talky affair that admittedly loses its momentum here and there as it wades a bit into dreamy semi-lucidity. Still, it’s an inventive take and Harcourt and McKenzie spin a challenging and entrancing fairytale that suggests (and proves) a YA movie can be far more than what we’ve long been made to accept.