Mystic River
The Plot:
When they were kids growing up together in a rough section of Boston, Jimmy Markum, Dave Boyle and Sean Devine spent their days playing stickball on the street, the way most boys did in their blue-collar neighborhood of East Buckingham. Nothing much out of the ordinary ever happened, until a moment's decision drastically altered the course of each of their lives forever. Twenty-five years later, the three find themselves thrust back together by another tragic event--the murder of Jimmy's 19-year-old daughter. Now a cop, Sean is assigned to the case and he and his partner are charged with unraveling the seemingly senseless crime. In the wake of the sudden and terrible loss of his child, Jimmy's mind becomes consumed with revenge--and his own plans to find the killer. Caught up in the maelstrom is Dave, now a lost and broken man fighting to keep his demons at bay. As the investigation creeps closer to home, his wife Celeste becomes consumed by suspicion and fear, while Jimmy's wife, Annabeth, draws her family tighter together in order to weather the storm. (From Yahoo Movies)
My Thoughts: (Reviewed by K-Billy)
Clint Eastwood directs this chillingly numb tale of Jimmy Markum, Dave Boyle, and Sean Devine. Back in their years as boys Dave falls prey to two men who abduct and molest him, until he escapes their captivity. The emotional trauma is felt by all of the boys as they are now all grown up. Jimmy owns his own store, Sean’s a detective, and Dave still harbors that horrible experience inside of him. When Jimmy’s 19 year old daughter is murdered, the three friends find themselves within each others lives again. Sean works the case, Jimmy searches for answers in his own way and vows vengeance, and Dave appears to be the prime suspect. What ensues is a tragedy.
This movie created quite a stir of praise and approval among the cinema community. It surely would have won the Best Picture award from the academy if it had not been for that rather large motion picture epic that dwarfed all others. I myself haven’t been familiar with any of Clint Eastwood’s work as a director and was as a result intrigued to see this film. This is a beautifully shot film in an entirely ugly setting, the grayness of the movie and the dreary look of the setting appropriately mimic the mood and feel of the film itself. Eastwood makes this film very personal with his style of directing and as such truly brings out a level of intimacy in the telling of it’s story. This happens to be one of those films that would as a rule fall into the Drama/Mystery category, but it rarely feels like a who dunnit film.
One of the biggest draws of this film and the reason for much of it’s praise happens to be the acting. An all star cast rounds out the characters in this film including Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, and Laurence Fishburne. Sean Penn was rather excellent, not just at displaying the pain and suffering that a father experiences after losing a child, but through his chilling numbness at times and unnerving desire to commit some form of violence against those who are responsible. Tim Robbins as Dave was ultimately a very complex character to figure out. One would pity him for that which he went through as a child and then at other times wonder just how damaging to him physcollicaly that experience was and how much human he has left inside of himself. I found myself rather angry at Laurance Fishburne. After watching him in the Matrix films I became convinced that he was incapable of human emotion but in this film his character is very believable and personable. Why all those actors chose to deliver their performances like wooden boards in those films is beyond me. Kevin Bacon really didn’t do much for me, at times I found him to be simply average. His best moments are in his conversations with his wife, whom he’s separated from. They display a human quality to his character that is not evident through his police work. Strangely enough, even though he really didn’t receive much recognition compared to the big league stars, my favorite performance of the film was Thomas Guiry as the secret boyfriend of Jimmy’s daughter. He was excellent being the youngest actor with a larger role and his relationship with his family finely showcased his talent in this film.
As I mentioned before, this film could’ve been a simply mystery movie where you don’t see the twist coming, and I suppose in it’s own way that it is, because there is a twist and you will not see it from a mile away. What separates it from this standard fare however is that it is startingly human and delves extremely deep into the emotions and personalities and tragedies of the characters, something that is not easily done. Within Eastwood’s film you don’t really find yourself caring who did it as much as you worry about how this revelation will effect the lives of the characters. If I had one complaint with the film it would be that it’s entirely depressing but this isn’t really a valid reason that would detract from it’s quality. The ending of the film may not seem fair, and it most certainly isn’t but there really was no other way for it to conclude. What’s done is done and can’t be reversed. In retrospect this film really leaves you rather unsure of what you’ve seen.
Starring: Laura Linney, Kevin Chapman,
Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Rated R