A raw film about crime from the street neighborhoods of Boston

Rating: 7/10 (5 January 2019)

"Mystic River" is a raw crime film about growing up and living in the street neighborhoods of Boston. It's based on a 2001 novel of the same title by Dennis Lehane. The story gets its name from the Mystic River that runs through the Northwest of the city and empties into Boston Harbor.
From an opening short scene of boyhood, the movie quickly jumps 25 years. Three boyhood friends have drifted apart, with far different lives. One is an ex-con who's become a king of the old neighborhood in which he owns a mom and pop grocery store. Another is a homicide detective. And the third is a blue-collar worker who still suffers quietly from sexual abuse as a boy at the hands of two men. One wore the Roman collar of a priest, the other was a plain-clothes policeman. The boy was abducted for four days. This incident isn't discussed any more in the film, but it comes back in a big way in the events that follow these many years later.
Clint Eastwood co-produced, directed and wrote the score for this film. It has his mark of a dark side of life. It's a story about dysfunctional families, child abuse, crime, hatred, homosexuality, murder, revenge, teen prostitution, vengeance and secrets. The film is a furtive look at vigilante justice, blind revenge, distrust of innocence, criminal denial of guilt and injustice.
It's a powerful, sad film that ends without resolution. This has become a trademark of Eastwood films. He brings a story to an end, but the characters will go on living without a satisfactory conclusion to the story. This is a hard movie to sit through for its violence, meanness, and frequent obscenities and vulgar language. The R rating fits, except that it might have another label - for mature adults. This is the type of film that can badly influence immature adults as well as young people.
The acting is superb throughout the film. Sean Penn and Tim Robbins received double awards - Oscars and Golden Globes, for their roles. Penn won the best actor awards and Robbins won the best supporting actor awards.
Although it received critical praise, "Mystic River" isn't a film for every adult.