It's taken a while, but Clint may have finally done it. Unanimously celebrated among his peers, Clint Eastwood has received numerous accolades for his directorial turns on movies such as Unforgiven and The Bridges of Madison County, but, personally speaking, up until now it's been hard to see any kind of legitimate genius at work behind the lens. His previous efforts, while certainly not shoddy, have been overrated and emotionally barren. For those like me, who feel that Unforgiven is one of the most questionable "classics" of the last few decades, his latest film, Mystic River, will leave no doubt that Eastwood does indeed have the talent to present a gripping, powerful story in a stylish manner, and this is the proof.
A flashback kicks the story off in Boston, where childhood friends Jimmy, Sean and Dave all write their names in some still-wet cement. They are caught in the act by a man who passes himself off as a police officer. Dave is taken for a ride, kidnapped and molested by the stranger, only to escape from captivity four days later. Fast forward twenty-five years. The incident has had a profound affect on Dave, who is now an adult (Tim Robbins), married, and has a son. He, Jimmy (Sean Penn) and Sean (Kevin Bacon) have grown apart but something is about to bring them back into each other's lives again. Jimmy, who owns a small grocery store and has done some time in jail, becomes concerned when a member of his own family goes missing. Sean, now a homicide detective, is assigned to the missing persons case, along with his partner Whitey (Laurence Fishburne). The trail leads them to a chilling homicide and having to break the sad news to Jimmy. Meanwhile, Dave's wife Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden) suspects that her husband's troubled past and suspicious behaviour from the night before may have played a part in Sean's family tragedy.
Mystic River, which was written by Brian Helgeland and based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, relies a lot on the strength of its cast, who are uniformly excellent. Rather than coax the camera into proffering phony reactions through quick cuts, Eastwood lets scenes play themselves out in long takes and allows his cast to dig into the meaty material. Penn, in calculated control of his character throughout, is a pained soul with steely resolve towards what he must do to avenge his family member's namesake. Bacon makes Sean into a flawed but stoic character who is hoping to make amends with his estranged wife, and Fishburne is wonderful as the outsider looking in on the tragedy with a candid, objective set of eyes. For the first half of the film, Robbins is out of place as he over-acts when snapping in and out of reality, but he quickly gathers momentum as the movie progresses, particularly when his psychological state of mind is called into question. In smaller roles as Jimmy's wife and Jimmy's daughter's boyfriend, Laura Linney and Tom Guiry have less success in transitioning from plot requirements to three-dimensional characters, but not at the expense of the movie's rhythm.
Where the movie often surprises is in the way it juggles several different styles with ease. At times a mystery, a family drama, a police investigation and a psychological study, at no point does any scene stray the course. It is poignant in places one might not expect from an Eastwood film. In a lot of ways, Mystic River reminded me of In the Bedroom, another superb picture that uses a family tragedy as its focal point while patiently peeling away layers of emotional duress. Both films show men who will stop at nothing to attain cathartic relief from the pain of losing a loved one.
There is a sad beauty to this movie. In a late scene, many of the characters end up attending a parade and it's played out as one of those awkward situations where everyone sees each other because they all live in the same town and sooner or later their paths simply have to cross again. However, the playing field is much more different for them now. It is with a deeper sense of loss and regret that they all now look at -- and certainly not interact with -- each other. All the while, everything is accompanied by a score composed by none other than Eastwood himself. Mystic River is clearly a painstaking labour of love, a richly rewarding undertaking that has a complete buy-in from everyone involved. There can be little doubt it will be remembered a few months from now when the Academy Award nominations are being announced.
