Superb!A superlative piece of film making.

Rating: Null/10 (10 November 2003)

Mystic River
Superb! What a joy! Here we see the finest actors of a generation perfectly cast in a powerful and interesting story that is well told.
The premise is simple: three estranged friends who shared a traumatic experience as boys are brought together in unexpected ways by a murder in the old neighbourhood. But in the hands of director Clint Eastwood it becomes a fiercely intense experience driven by complex emotional twists.

I must admit that I am relatively unfamiliar with Eastwood's efforts behind the camera. If Mystic River is any indication at all of his talents as an auteur he will be going on my list of must sees. Someone has to replace Tarantino in the talent pool.
Each scene is a story contained and complete in and of itself. The narrative unfolds gradually and elegantly with each vignette. At 156 minutes the film is exactly as long as it needs to be. A beat more or less would have resulted in discord, asymmetry. One has the feeling that the finished product is exactly what Eastwood wanted; a great achievement in itself.
Perhaps it is his long career in front of the camera that allowed the director to garner such performances from his cast. Each member of the inspired triad of Penn, Robbins, and Bacon is allowed to focus on his strengths with little intervention.
Robbins is all about eyes. His character's horrifying childhood experience chronically drips from them like icy crocodile tears. Bacon is a body language man, a master of mannerisms that many actors are unable to control when creating character. Sean Penn delivers a grief so terrifying, so absolutely annihilating that it is difficult to remain objective about his performance. This is simply because it isn't a performance. There is a gripping realism and authenticity delivered by all the cast members.

Subtly written with an astounding attention to detail in dialect, speech mannerisms, and dialog, the same realism so apparent in the performances pervades the entire production to superb and engrossing effect. The community in which this twisted tableaux unfolds is as unique as the characters that inhabit it. It isn't generic America. It is a specific time and a specific place.
Mystic River has few flaws but because of the excellence and subtlety of the production over all they tend to stand out a mile. Most glaring is Laura Linney's performance. This is unfortunate as I think she is one of the best actresses of her generation but either she or Eastwood couldn't decide what her character should be. She starts of being a slightly resentful and angry second wife and ends with being some kind of suburban lady Macbeth. The scope of Penn's role also went over the top slightly. There was no need to turn him into the neighbourhood Don to justify his actions.

On the whole those are small details. This is an excellent, captivatingly shot film with brilliant performances in front of and behind the camera. It is absorbing with out being intellectual, intense with out being complicated, moving with out being sentimental, visceral with out being violent. Go and see it. It is one of the best films of the decade; the best film of the year.
Oh yes: far too good for the pants scale this one is going commando.