Exceptional...another gem from 2007

Rating: 8/10 (23 October 2007)

Wow. I'll admit I'm not a fan of Ben Affleck, but if "Gone Baby Gone" is any indication of his directorial prowess, I may have to reassess my opinion. Based on a Dennis Lehane novel (co-adapted by Affleck and Aaron Stockard), "Baby" hits with grace and rawness the notes played for heavy-handed melodrama in Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" (another Lehane adaptation). An exceptionally satisfying mystery, well-textured through character instead of action (though there are several harrowing scenes of violence), with a script that consistently plays against our expectations without resorting to cheap cop-outs and last-minute twists. Affleck stages seemingly simple dialog exchanges with the same amount of visceral intensity as, say, a shootout in a derelict building. While some of the Boston accents are so thick subtitles wouldn't have been unreasonable, the actors nail their rich, complex roles: Casey Affleck as a freelance missing-persons finder (don't be deceived by his baby face and short stature; he has definite leading-man potential); Ed Harris as a cop assigned to the case; Michelle Monaghan as Affleck's partner. In this type of literary adaptation (and no, I have not read the novel), the tendency to emphasize certain passages can lead to a heavy-handed execution ("Mystic River," again), but Affleck does a good job of keeping things grounded in reality--the performances possess a raw naturalism that seldom conveys a Hollywood polish, save for Morgan Freeman, whose small yet crucial role is essentially a reprise of the "wise elder" he's been playing since "Se7en." But overall, "Gone Baby Gone" is one of the most surprisingly satisfying films of 2007--the type of character-rich meditation that hits hard, and is not easily forgotten.