Mystic River

A stunning film based on a tragic novel.
Clint Eastwood's adaptation of Dennis Lehane's wrenching best-seller, "Mystic River," is a remarkable achievement. Having read the book shortly before seeing the movie, I was impressed with Eastwood's faithfulness to the letter and spirit of Lehane's story.

Sean Penn plays Jimmy Markham (Marcus in the book), a small time hood who did a stint in prison almost two decades earlier. Jimmy now owns a grocery store, is a loving family man, and seems to have given up his criminal ways. As a child, Jimmy was a close friend of Sean Devine, who grew up to become a homicide detective, and Dave Boyle, played by the wonderful Tim Robbins. Boyle endured a terrible trauma as a child, and he is tortured by horrifying thoughts that he can never escape. When Jimmy's nineteen-year-old daughter, Katie, is found brutally murdered, Sean investigates with his partner, played by Laurence Fishburne, and the lives of the three old friends intersect once again.

The stellar cast of "Mystic River" is...

A very disturbing drama
I watched this last night. This movie made me feel like I had been beaten up and left on the sidewalk to crawl home. But, I'm not saying it was a bad film. Eastwood has hit home runs in the last several outings and he has aged his talents to a finely honed formula that rarely dissappoints. I am not familiar with the book that this is based on and frankly I don't want to know: the movie was upsetting enough.

A good drama should move you, should make you feel shaken and this film delivers. The script is very good, the actors all excellent. While the film seems to linger just a wee bit too long at the end, it caps off the story without leaving anything unsaid. Having said this, it also does not tie up every single loose end; we are left to figure it out for ourselves and the ambiguity that this invokes is acceptable.

Sean Penn gives a tremendous performance that is worthy of all the accolades. Following close to him is the evocative and always disturbing...

An American Tragedy
Adapted from Dennis Lehane's critically acclaimed novel, Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" is a masterful achievement. It does nothing less than elevate contemporary working-class Boston into the realm of Shakespearean tragedy. The film is superbly crafted by screenwriter Brian Helgeland and may turn out to be Clint Eastwood's crowning masterpiece as a director. It also helps that Eastwood has assembled one of the finest ensemble casts in years to act out this deep, gripping story. When you have Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, and Laura Linney in the same movie, there isn't a lot that can go wrong. And very little does.

"Mystic River" is the story of three men and the past events that haunt them in adulthood. Jimmy (Penn), Sean (Bacon), and Dave (Robbins) were friends when they were children, until one day Dave is abducted by two men pretending to be police officers. They sexually abuse him and he manages to escape four days later...

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