Eastwood's best work after MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Rating: 10/10 (10 April 2019)

In MYSTIC RIVER, Eastwood brings a clinical eye to bear on the truth, regardless of how hard it might be to swallow. He examines with the same clinical eye the development of the characters of the main figures. Tim Robbins and Sean Penn post superlative performances, but Bacon also does well, albeit in a less eye-catching manner.
Interestingly, Laura Linney and Marcia Gay Harden reflect the strengths and weaknesses of their husbands.
Ultimately, Eastwood's clinical also bores clinically and inexorably into the many appearances that pass for reality in the minds of people, and his sober approach is, in my view, what adds real greatness to this work and to that end, it is helped by superlative cinematography, great action sequences, and, most of all, a lucid and highly intelligent script.
Eastwood's direction is sublime.
MYSTIC RIVER is a must-see masterpiece.