Laura
Chant is a “sensitive.” That sort of means she has the “Shine.” It also means
she could possibly transition into a full-fledged witch, but there is no
guarantee the process will be safely completed, just like there is no guarantee
obnoxious teenagers can successfully evolve into mature adults. Chant has very personal
and pressing motivation for fulfilling her witchly promise, which raises the
stakes considerably in Stuart McKenzie & Miranda Harcourt’s The Changeover, opening today in
Brooklyn.
From
time to time, Chant gets premonitions, but her over-worked, working-class mum
does not want to hear about that. Instead, she just wants Chant to shut-up and take
care of her little brother, Jacko. You could say she has not done so well on
that score, but it is hard to be prepared for the danger represented by Carmody
Braque. He happens to be a larva, a supernatural parasite that sucks the
life-force out of their victims. Tragically, Braque managed to sink his hooks
into Jacko, after he tricked the lad into “letting him in.”
Channt
is definitely out of her depth, but she finds an ally in her brooding
classmate, Sorenson Carlisle, a witch (not a warlock), from a long line of
witches. His mother and grandmother could have some helpful advice for Chant,
whereas her mother just nags and nags.
Based
on New Zealand YA author Margaret Mahy’s 1984 Carnegie Medal-winner of the same
name, The Changeover is one of the
better films based on YA novels, but admittedly, its only competition is the
greatly underappreciated Before I Fall.
It is not saying much to argue it is much better than I Still See You, November Criminals, and Fallen, which it most definitely is. A lion’s share of the credit
is due to Timothy Spall, who is jolly fun to watch chewing the scenery as
Braque.
