strong drama, solid directing, superb acting, dubious moral ending

Rating: 8/10 (25 September 2004)

I confess to my sins - I never trusted Clint Eastwood as a director, and I avoided seeing his films - as actor and especially as director since I saw the spaghetti Westerns in my childhood. I may have missed this good film, and stayed in my mind with the stereotype of a bad director, if somehow I did not start seeing the DVD before realizing it was directed by him. I was wrong! Despite his bang-bang youth Eastwood is a solid director. 'Mystic River' is a well filmed drama, he knows to create a full world of emotions, classic in its approach of human relations and honor codes. He lets the superb cast to do its acting, and what an act it is! Sean Penn uses this role to climb one more step to the peaks of American film acting, to these altitudes where Nicholson and De Niro are waiting for him. Tim Robbins abandons for a while politics, and proves he can be a great actor and take upon complex roles without the need of a manifesto film. Kevin Bacon completes the trio in a solid and convincing manner.
If there is a problem with this film, it lies in my opinion in its ending. The plot is complex, and the characters run convincingly each towards his or her fate, tragic for most. However, the last two or three scenes seem to have been added as some moral forgiveness comment of the directors. Trying to wipe out all the murder, abduction, child molesting and other traumatic events that have happened before in these final scenes is not convincing. It's actually the first time when what we see on the screen does not fully make sense.
Otherwise - one of the best crime and friendship dramas lately. 8 out of 10 on my personal scale.