Eastwood / Penn Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (16 November 2003)

This movie will mean many different things to many different people, but for anyone who was born and raised in the Northeastern United States, it might nearly be a religious experience. Have a dad or an uncle who worked way-beyond-hard all of his life but could never get out of a "working class neighborhood?" Know and love any family member with an ancestry-deep anger management problem? Been devastatingly betrayed by trusted persons? Does the phrase "survival of the fittest" mean the same thing as the word "childhood" to you?
Although I personally cannot claim sufficient knowledge of Sean Penn's past successes, I have to say that if he does not win an Oscar for Jimmy's attempts at self-restraint and facial expressions alone, I may never watch the Oscars again! Tim Robbins is awesome as well, approaching the quality of "Rain Man" and "Big" with the character of Dave. And what else can one say about Kevin Bacon that hasn't already been said? (I was alarmed at his weight loss, and do hope he hasn't actually experienced any of the tragedies touched upon in his films.)
"Mystic River" marks the first time in 40 years that my dad discovered a powerful novel before I did. This movie will haunt you, and haunt you, and haunt you... hat's off to Dennis Lehane!