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MYSTIC RIVER Send This Review to a Friend
Clint Eastwood has topped himself as a director with "Mystic River," a thoroughly engrossing film that is in the tradition of a good detective story but with complex character development and a brooding, cynical dark side. This is fine filmmaking enhanced by a superb cast with each star just right for the role, and it was definitely a coup for the 2003 New York Film Festival to snag it as the opening night attraction.
The story, scripted by Brian Helgeland based on Dennis Lehane's novel, takes off from three boyhood pals, one of whom is spirited away by tough guys for an experience that will scar his life. Tim Robbins is the grown up Dave who brilliantly gives the impression of living in a shadowy world. Sean Penn has one of his best roles (I say one of because wait until you see him in "21 Grams") as Jimmy, the adult version of another in the trio, with Kevin Bacon as Sean, the third, who has become a detective.
The plot darkens when Jimmy finds that his beloved daughter has been murdered, and wracked with pain, he hungers for vengeance against the killer. Suspicion falls on Dave. Jimmy is convinced he is the man. Dave's wife Celeste is suspicious of her husband for his mysterious ways and his having come home with blood on him and a weak excuse. Marcia Gay Harden brings a haunting presence to Celeste, as she wanders through the film looking grim and disturbed.
Bacon as Sean plays the role close to the vest with a coiled quality that suggests inner cool and inner tension. When terrible things happen and the truth is unraveled, it as if Sean would rather not know. Laura Linney as Jimmy's wife Annabeth, looking quite different from the way she does in previous parts, plays her with a hard-boiled edge of practicality, determined to live with whatever one has to and go on.
Eastwood takes his time telling the story with a lean approach. There are no wasted scenes and there is no superfluous dialogue. The film crackles with realism in depicting the town and its inhabitants, and we get a credible picture of those who have lived on the wrong side of the law and of ties that bind. Toughness pervades "Mystic River," and so does sadness. Though not preachy, it has something to say about taking the law into one's hands and about concealing truth. Here's a film that grips and disturbs, all the while enabling one to enjoy solid performances. There's a danger of over-hype that can leave one mildly disappointed if one expects one of the great films of all time. See the film on its own powerful terms as one of the major works of the year. A Warner Brothers release.
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