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>> MYSTIC RIVER

Starring: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, and more...
Director: Clint Eastwood
Genre: Drama




this movie' leads moviegoers on a suspense-filled, sometimes painful adventure marked by great performances

clint eastwood's "mystic river" is a dark, ominous brooding about a crime in the present that is emotionally linked to a crime in the past. it involves three boyhood friends in an irish neighborhood of boston, who were forever marked when one of them was captured by a child molester. they grew apart as the grow older as adults, their lives have settled into uneasy routines that are interrupted by the latest tragedy. written by brian helgeland, based on the novel by dennis lehane, the movie uses a group of gifted actors who are able to find true human emotion in a story that could have been a whodunit, but looks too deeply and evokes too much honest pain.

and always that day in the past lingers in their memories. the three boys were writing their names in wet concrete when two men in a car drove up, flashed a badge and took one of the boys away with them. flashbacks show that he was abused for days. compounding his suffering was the uneasiness the other two boys always felt about him; maybe they didn't entirely understand what happened to him, but in some sense they no longer felt the same about their violated friend -- whose name, half-finished, remains in the concrete like a life interrupted in midstream.

the film centers on the three friends: jimmy (sean penn), an ex-con who now runs the corner store; dave (tim robbins), a handyman, and sean (kevin bacon), a homicide detective. all are married; jimmy to a second wife, annabeth (laura linney), who helps him bring up his oldest daughter and two of their own; dave to celeste (marcia gay harden), who has given him a son; sean to an absent, pregnant wife who calls him from time to time but never says anything. the other major character is whitey (laurence fishburne), sean's police partner.

the story erupts when jimmy's oldest daughter, katie, was murdered after her nigh-out with her girlfriends. katie was in love with the neighborhood kid, brendan harris, whose existence was disapproved of by jimmy. that night out with her girlfriends was her last night before she was planned to elope with brendan to las vegas withouth her parents' consent. that same night, dave came home with bloody clothes and hands to his wife claiming that he had just hurt a mugger. so the plot rose as dave looks more guilty to katie's murder because he was also the last person to see her partying at the nearest bar.

although elements in "mystic river" play according to the form of a police procedural, the movie is about more than the simple question of guilt. it is about pain spiraling down through the decades, about unspoken secrets and unvoiced suspicions. and it is very much about the private loyalties of husbands and wives. jimmy says he will kill the person who killed his daughter, and we have no reason to doubt him, especially after he hires neighborhood thugs to conduct their own investigation.

although the story eventually arrives at a solution, it is not about the solution. it is about the journey, and it provides each of his actors with scenes that test their limits. both penn and robbins create urgent and breathtaking suspense as they are cross-examined by the police. there is tension between whitey, who thinks dave is obviously guilty, and sean, who is reluctant to suspect a childhood friend. there are such deep pools of hatred and blood lust circling the funeral that we expect an explosion at any moment, and yet the characters are all inward, smoldering.

i was absolutely moved by the performances of the actors here, and no doubt sean penn should be one of the candidate for next year's oscars. the scene where he was letting go and cried his heart out when the feeling kicks in about his daughter's murder, it was so moved, you feel as if you want to cry with him. two thumbs all the waaayy up for his performance. with his past nominations at oscars but never got one, i think he should be considered as one of the heavy weight for his performance in this movie.

this is clint eastwood's 24th film as a director, and one of the few titles where he doesn't also act. he shows here a deep rapport with the characters and the actors, who are allowed lancing moments of truth. always an understated actor himself, he finds in his three actors pools of privacy and reserve. unfortunately, as i have become familiar with eastwood's directorial sytle in the past movies (absolute power, bridges of madison county, unforgiven, etc.) i seem to have a problem following his slow-motion way of telling a story. although i have to admit, he has done it beautifully in this one.

"to see strong acting like this is exhilarating. in a time of flashy directors who slice and dice their films in a dizzy editing rhythm, it is important to remember that films can look and listen and attentively sympathize with their characters. directors grow great by subtracting, not adding, and eastwood does nothing for show, everything for effect."

- roger ebert for chicago sun times

>> rated by :: sLesTa | [ ]

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