Not as easy a watch as one would think

Rating: 7/10 (24 May 2009)

I first saw Mystic River in 2003. I hated it. I found Sean Penn to be incredibly over the top and self congratulating in his performance (something I still think he is guilty of in almost every film I have seen of his) and the story was sinister high hokum.
Now six years on return to the scene of the crime and find myself about turned. I was fourteen, or thereabouts, when I first saw Mystic River. I was yet to really learn the distinction between actors and superstars, and I thought that the film was a whodunit thriller entirely commonplace of Hollywood.
It's not.
As I said for my summary it is naive to watch this film thinking that it is about finding a killer. It most certainly isn't. It is a film about friendship, time and loyalty. The film makes way for female characters whom despite their domestic roles within the drama are entirely as important as the male ones in helping us to understand not just the characters, but the nature of the city the story is about. It is well acted for the most part and I found myself loving Sean Penn's performance, a rarity for me. It is rare that a film of this sort can turn the victim into the villain without it seeming like high hokum. Penn achieves this admirably, and while I still wish Bill Murray had won the 2003 Best Actor Oscar I am less enraged than I once was at his snub. Penn is certainly the second most deserving man of that year.
Furthermore, the film is immersive in the detail of Boston as much as it is in us understanding how time changes friendship and family loyalties. Kevin Bacon superbly handles this. It is his now-outsider to the home he grew up in that emphasises the significance of the passage of time and how little childhood memories really affect the future.
There are still problems with the film. Tim Robbins' performance just feels misplaced. Undeniably the most important character of the story somehow Robbins part on page and on screen don't feel fleshed out enough. There is so much more to this character than the film allows. His Oscar win was an undeserved one. Seek out Ken Watanabe's performance in The Last Samurai to see the true supporting performance of that year.
Mystic River is a deeper, slower and more moving one than its placing within the thriller genre suggests. It is not as pacey as say Gone Baby Gone, another Lehane adaptation, nor as suspenseful as much of Eastwood's other work. But I do stand corrected.
Mystic River is a very good, albeit flawed, film. See it and be rewarded, but be patient with it or you'll find yourself hating it for all the wrong reasons.