Jesse Stone: Tempo de Despertar

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.

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."

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.

In this latest installment of the Jesse Stone series, based on a novel by Robert B. Parker, the biggest crime problem for the police chief of Paradise is parking violations. It's a good thing, because dispatcher Rose is being trained to take over for Molly, whose pregnancy is high-risk. And Officer Simpson is in the hospital. And Chief Stone and D'Angelo don't get along.

Stone's ex has a new boyfriend, and she wants to discontinue her telephone conversations for a while. Stone still doesn't have his drinking problem completely under control, and the townspeople have become aware of it. With temptation quite strong, Stone turns to Dr. Dix.

To give him something interesting to do, Stone reopens a 15-year-old unsolved murder connected with a bank robbery in which the victim was Leeann's sister Rebecca. For years, Leeann has taken care of her mother, who had a stroke after her daughter's death.

But Stone should have waited, because he does get a challenging case. Cathleen Holton says she has been raped. Stone has reason to believe she is lying. Harrison Pendleton is rich, and he owns the schooner where the alleged incident took place. Sybil Martin looks good in a swimsuit and seems to know something. The town council would prefer that the case be kept quiet so tourists will not be discouraged from attending the Fall Regatta.

Several old cases also play a role in the movie.

As with the other movies, some people may find this boring. But Tom Selleck, William Devane and Kathy Baker have strong characters to work with and they give very good performances, so in my opinion the movie is interesting enough with minimal action. Violence is almost nonexistent until the final scenes, though I think the movie would have been fine without what happened at the end.

I think pretty much everyone does a good job here. And both main plot lines are just complicated enough, though neither is developed enough for a full movie. We never know which of the old cases will provide clues to the new ones, and sometimes we have no idea which case a certain event involves. This seems like two separate hour-long episodes, though in the real world police officers would be working on multiple cases.

I was happy with this movie, and I look forward to more of them.

Selleck does not get enough credit for this series.

On the one hand this whole series can be dismissed as the efforts of yet one more "older" actor to keep stirring the pot, to stay in the game, and at the same time get to play in his favorite sandbox on the planet (Nova Scotia, standing in for Maine).

But if you dig deeper and consider the series as a whole what you find is remarkable control, and craftsmanship.

The same people appear in every movie, both in front of and behind the camera. Ignoring the regional Canadian accents, they are not bad.

Selleck is brilliant. Stone could be the best work of his career. He has trumped Clint Eastwood in his mastery of the two-word piece of dialog. He stands a fragile but unwavering force for law enforcement. There is minimal violence or action in these entries but they hold interest nonetheless.

And that damn dog with the stoic face steals every scene he is in.