Mystic River
Dir Clint Eastwood
Written by Brian Helgeland
Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, Lawrence Fishburn, Laura Linney, Emmy Rossum, Spenser Treat Clark.
In the late 70’s, in Boston, three boyhood friends Sean; Jimmy and Dave are inseparable. One day, a policeman finds the boys doing a small misdemeanour and takes Dave away for ‘questioning’ – but the man wasn’t a cop, and he kept Dave for four days.
25 years later, the three men barely speak, only showing exchanging pleasantries when they see each other. Sean (Bacon) is a homicide detective, Jimmy (Penn) is a supermarket owner with a shady past, and Dave (Robbins) is a shadow of his former self, but husband to Celeste (Harden), and father of a son.
One night, Dave comes home covered in blood claiming he was mugged, and the next morning Jimmy’s 19 year old daughter Katie (Rossum) is found murdered. When Sean is called in as lead investigator, he and his partner (Fishburn) discover that one of the top suspects is Dave. Did he do it, or did he really get mugged?
Absolutely breathtaking film, with equally breathtaking performances from all the leads. Penn and Robbins won Oscars for their roles (Lead and Supporting actor respectively) with four other nominations truly deserved (Picture, Supporting actress for Harden, Director and Screenplay).
The script is brilliant, and leaves you guessing up until the final moments in the third act that will truly leave you floored. It is well paced, with the final ‘reveal’ only occurring within the last ten minutes of the film and while there is no proper closure, there really doesn’t need to be.
The American culture comes across strong here, with the close knit community in the Boston neighbourhood seeming to be one of the primary themes. The past relationships that the three primary characters have with another, which are brought together by tragedy are often seen in American films, and it does a stellar job here.
The score, also by Eastwood himself is hauntingly complementary to the story.
Near perfect film, with amazing performances all round.
5/5