Jesse Stone: L'empreinte du passé

A good thriller, just like the rest of the them.

Tom Selleck is great as always.

Robert Parker, like novelist Georges Simenon, was a master of his craft. Both men knew how to say just enough, and no more, allowing the reader to fill in the blanks. Parker's books are really acts of collaboration between writer and reader. It is rare for a film to capture the spirit of the book it sprang from, and rarer still for the film to be faithful to the writer's method. The Jesse Stone films are the wonderful exception. They are true to the books, and faithful to Parker's lean, spare style. Less is always more, like a Japanese line drawing. These films are beautifully crafted little gems. High marks to all who had a hand in their production.

While some may find the pace plodding and grow impatient, real enjoyment follows for those who focus on the subtleties of character development through facial gestures, incremental relationship growth between characters, and the economical dialogue. All the Jesse Stone movies provide refreshing change from movies relying excessively on frenetic car chases, lengthy foot pursuits, protracted shoot-outs, high body counts, sixteen camera views of the same explosion, badly contrived conflict between partners, and tiring vocabulary abuse (profanity). Watch these in order because there are larger story threads that connect from movie to movie especially concerning the central characters. When you find yourself able to relax and have a story with depth gradually and carefully laid out before you, you'll be in the right frame of mind to enjoy this. As a peripheral character in Sea Change tells Jesse, "listen to Brahms."

If some archaeologist is digging around some 200 years from now and happens upon a copy of this film I only hope he's able to find a DVD player that will play it. Sea Change is that good! And unlike the usual junk passing for cinema these days this movie (and others in the series) displays a range of talent that will speak well of the 21st Century movie industry. Wonderful writing, wonderful directing, wonderful acting, wonderful sound track! But perhaps most impressive of all is the photography. In fact as a professional photographer specializing in landscape stills I was time and time again blown away by the powerful composition of the scenes, the originality of the camera work, the blending of subtle tone and color. As masterful piece of cinema-photography as I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing and memories of the most powerful shots shall inform my own work for years to come.

The music in "Sea Change" from 2007 I believe is Brahms piano music, and it's lovely and sets the mood beautifully. As with the last Jesse Stone film I saw, the mood is depression.

I actually am seeing these out of order -- in the other one I saw, Jesse was off the police force. Here he is the Police Chief and talking to his ex-wife on the phone all the time. Afraid of going back to his alcoholic ways, he consults a psychiatrist (William Devane).

He also dives into two cases: an old bank robbery case where a teller was killed, and an alleged rape. The town council isn't crazy about that one because of the tourist trade.

I thought the script was very good, as were the production values. Unlike many on this board, I am not sold on Tom Selleck in this role. Yes, he looks weathered. This is a complicated, multilayered role and I don't see the layers in Selleck. I see him being very serious and looking miserable.

Also, it plays against the qualities that made him a star, a special presence, charm for days, and a flair for comedy. And let's not forget the dimpled smile. Here he's morose. Frankly, it makes the character kind of boring even though he's obviously very smart.

The other major problem for me in this episode was Sean Young, whom I never could stand.

The rest of the cast is very good and top-notch: Kathy Baker, Stephen McHattie, William Devane, and Kohl Sudduth.

I just wish these movies had a little more spark.