Outstanding

Rating: 10/10 (29 December 2005)

Clint Eastwood does a great job of getting the best out of some very fine actors in this urban working class instant classic. Sean Penn, reminding me of some of the best work by such stars as Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, is absolutely authentic as Jimmy Markum from the mean streets of Boston, a guy who brushed with the law, went straight, and then, when his beloved daughter comes up murdered, is tested and found...
All too human.
He is supported by Tim Robbins as his boyhood chum Dave Boyle, a man tottering on the edge of sanity, a man haunted by a childhood abduction by pedophiles, one of whom flashes a priest's ring. Penn won an academy award in 2004 as Best Actor, and Robbins won as Best Supporting Actor. Best film that year went to Lord of the Rings, but Mystic River couldn't have been far behind in the voting.
Kevin Bacon, the third of the boyhood pals who have gone their separate ways in adulthood, plays Sean Devine, a homicide detective with the Boston police. He also does a great job. His sidekick is played by Laurence Fishburne who brings the very familiar black police detective role to a new level of excellence with his balanced and realistic portrayal. Also excellent is Marcia Gay Harden as Celeste Boyle, Dave's wife, who through stupidity, fear, and a misreading of human grief, makes a fatal mistake in judgment, a mistake that leads to a needless murder.
The story itself is riveting. Eastwood's direction is tight, focused, always believable, and atmospheric. The script by Brian Helgeland, adapted from the novel by Dennis Lehane, is nothing short of mesmerizing. This movie is that good. It reminds me a little of some great mafia classics like The Godfather in the way it depicts east coast urban America: the family ties and betrayals, fateful acts born of anger and frustration, stupidity and human frailty, and most notably in the high quality of all aspects of the production, especially the most important ones, story, character and veracious setting and atmosphere.
A couple of other things set this film apart. One is the interesting and deep psychological situations that some of the characters find themselves in. Detective Sean Devine has an estranged wife who calls him but doesn't speak; Jimmy has dark secrets in his past known only to himself; Dave Boyle does something that nobody knows about until the end, something totally in keeping with his character; and finally, the boyfriend of Jimmy's daughter, Brendan Harris (Tom Guiry) knows something that solves the murder in his mind, but he doesn't want to tell it just yet.
The second is, even as Brendan runs home to confirm what he knows, you'll never guess who murdered Jimmy's daughter. Only in the next scene as the film nears its climax, is it clear what happened and why. And the difficulty isn't anything artificial as is so often the case in movie thrillers. The difficulty results from a beautifully constructed story based on a realistic and believable plot that makes us feel when the truth finally comes out, that it is right and understandable although almost impossible to guess beforehand.
See this for Clint Eastwood who, with this film, can take his place alongside Hollywood's great directors, and for Sean Penn who gives the performance of his life.
(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)