Mystic River

Twenty years ago, the boys Jimmy Markun, Sean Devine and Dave Boyle are neighbors and pals, playing hockey on the street. One day, Dave is kidnapped by two men, being sexually abused, but escapes from them four days later. In the present days, each one of them followed one way in their lives: Jimmy (Sean Penn) is married with Annabeth Markum (Laura Linney), has three daughters and has a small business. Sean (Kevin Bacon) is a detective, and his pregnant wife left him six months ago. His colleague is the detective Whitey Powers (Laurence Fishburne). And Dave (Tim Robbins) is a traumatized man, married with Celeste Boyle (Marcia Gay Harden) and having a young son. When the nineteen years old daughter of Jimmy, Katie Markum (Emmy Rossum), is found dead in the neighborhood, the three friends in childhood meet each other again, in the investigation of the murder. A tragic event happens in the conclusion of this investigation. This movie is excellent. Yesterday, I saw it on DVD and I was impressed with the direction of Clint Eastwood and the performance of the cast. It is almost impossible to highlight one actor or actress, but I was stunned with the performance of Sean Penn. It is a film based on the acting, and not on special effects, shootings or race of cars. I was very impressed, since the tragic story of the loss of the youth is very real, full of human flaws, disturbances, prejudice and judgements. The destiny of this movie in the future may be to be considered a contemporary classic. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): `Sobre Meninos e Lobos' (`About Boys and Wolves')

Eastwood's big Oscar hit after "Unforgiven", that other masterpiece directed by Dirty Harry himself. "Mystic River" is based on the bestselling novel by Dennis Lehane and it has an incredible cast. The main leads are for Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon. Furthermore we have Laurence "Morpheus" Fishburne, Laura Linney and Marcia Gay Harden. The movie itself is very dark and sober without much music. The story is brilliantly written and the acting is without any doubt superb.

I'm glad Sean Penn finally won an Academy Award, he's a brilliant actor and he certainly deserves the recognition. Tim Robbins was good as well, but I think Benicio del Toro should have won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. His performance in "21 Grams" was much more superior to Robbins' performance in "Mystic River". Anyway, that's just what I think. Kevin Bacon was excellent as well and he is one of the most underrated actors of his generation. Marcia Gay Harden and Laura Linney were good as usual.

Although I very much enjoyed this movie, it didn't exactly turned out to be the masterpiece I was expecting. But that's maybe because this was only the first time I watched it. Anyway, I'm still looking forward to see Eastwood's masterpiece of this year: "Million Dollar Baby". But this movie is absolutely worth seeing as well.

8,5/10

Mystic River deals with three men, once boyhood friends, who all estrange the people closest to them. Their characters become flawed because of events, of how they choose to be, or their calling. It doesn't really say anything profound, but the acting and screenplay in the first half are quite good. Brian Helgeland, whose script writing seems to veer between brilliant (L.A. Confidential) and fairly abysmal (The Sin Eater), provides three quarters of sheer maestro, a story that unfolds with a growing sense of unease; characters that, as in real life, feel no need to state the obvious but let us piece together clues. But a gripping story of childhood bonds gone bad, murder, the frailty of human certainty and belief in flawed values – all wonderful elements that should offer a filmmaker so much – are stymied by flimsy resolutions and ultimately unlovable characters. An edge of the seat mystery builds to a limp climax that rather suggests they ran out of money, or film or ideas. There is no great moral dilemma as some critics have tried to suggest – all the characters try to do good in their own screwed up way, some with better intentions than others, and most of them fail.

Mystic River has a stellar cast – Tim Robbins, Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon to name a few – and there are some excellent performances. Penn, in the lead role, is sadly perhaps the weakest of these three as he is seems far too conscious of those ‘Oscar worthy moments', with the camera closing in for yet another close-up of his lingering, tortured, seemingly over-rehearsed expressions. Actors who go through this phase need a rapid infusion of French Cinema to correct their hyperbaric egos if they wish to ascend loftily and gracefully through stardom. Robbins and Bacon seem far more comfortable with their roles, without the need to be centre stage quite so much, and Marcia Gay Harden, who has already collected one Oscar for her role in Pollock, is quite superb, playing a long suffering wife with what seems like suppressed hysteria growing into panic. Mystic River is a good film and worth going to see - but such a shame it isn't another cinematic masterpiece we feel we can still hope for from director Clint Eastwood.

Eastwood's expert direction and wonderful performances from the three leads make MYSTIC RIVER a drama worth watching. The film is made up of three interlocking sections, each represented by one of the leads. Kevin Bacon supplies the lesser police procedural aspects of the movie, Tim Robbins lends plenty of mystery to a whodunit plot, and Sean Penn is at the heart of the family drama-cum-tragedy.

The film is unpredictable throughout and slowly paced, taking its time to get to grips with the storyline instead of rushing through the plot. Never once does it feel boring. The attention to technical detail is spot on as you'd expect, and the mood finely judged throughout. It takes actors and a director of rare talent to make a movie this compelling, but in the case of MYSTIC RIVER everything comes together in a film that never disappoints.

After a while, one has come to expect mediocrity from Clint Eastwood. "Blood Work" "Space Cowboys" and "Sudden Impact" all shining examples of this. But what he has here is true; sophisticated, intricate and rewarding. Viewing is definitely recommended.

Three boys, Dave (Tim Robbins) Jimmy (Sean Penn) and Sean (Kevin Bacon) are reunited after the murder of Jimmy's nineteen year-old daughter. Immediately, a whodunit case arrives. Sounds average, dunnit?...

No. It's much more than average. What might appear as a normal murder mystery is more. The acting, particularly from Robbins and Penn, is immaculate. Robbins is still recovering from child sexual abuse along time ago. Penn, so realistically and amazingly, mourns over the loss of his daughter. Laurence Fishburne (playing cop Whitey) is as smart talking as ever, whilst Kevin Bacon gives a solid performance as the homicide cop investigating the case.

Though the film becomes a bit uneven towards the end, this tough, brutal and uncompromising; but still, a masterpiece, and the best work Eastwood as done in years.

Final Analysis: 9 out of 10