Spellbinding

Rating: 10/10 (11 March 2004)

Under the skilled eye of Eastwood, Lehane's dark restless novel comes to life with a vengeance. Acting talent abounds with Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Marcia Gay Harden, and Laura Linney to create a deeply crafted film, both subtly uncomfortable and disconcerting, as though you've intruded on an intensely intimate moment of the characters' lives. The story itself is surrounded by profound emotional pain that grips our deepest fears of loss and betrayal in an almost Shakespearean manner. In doing so, it creates a heart wrenching tragedy that surrounds hopelessness and despair with rage and revenge. The film is a masterful collaboration of directing and acting that leaves you in awe of such extraordinary gifts.