Moving, Disturbing, Riveting

Rating: 9/10 (7 May 2006)

Certainly Mystic River is one of the best films I have seen in the last few years. At once riveting, disturbing, and profoundly moving, it draws you into its web of friendships, family connections and relationships in a working class neighborhood of Boston. As an exercise in storytelling, I can find no flaws worth mentioning. The photography and music are perfect. Among an excellent cast, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden are all superb. While many lesser films display elements of contrivance and artificiality, every minute of this story rang true for me and the characters, especially Sean Penn as Jimmy Markum, came across as "the real deal": utterly believable flawed individuals. Highly recommended as both a murder mystery and moving character study.