Mystic River Review
by Marshall Garvey (hunter48 AT goodpeopleunite DOT com)February 9th, 2004
"Mystic River" (2003)
Review by Marshall Garvey
Rating (0 to 5): ***** Grade: A+
Starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurence Fishburne, Laura Linney
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Written by Brian Helgeland (based on the novel by Dennis Lehane)
Original music by Clint Eastwood
Warner Bros.
137 minutes
Rated R for violence and language
Trailers today for whodunits are enough to let us know they're desperate to twist conventionality. Seeing "Mystic River", my father and I saw two trailers, "Twisted" and "Taking Lives", that show the movies think they're truly disturbing and unlike anything you've seen before. She's the tough female cop who's got the killer, but the killer is stalking her, and the police chief is suspect, and the pizza boy is stalking her cousin's niece's ex-husband, etc.
"Mystic River", directed by Clint Eastwood ("Unforgiven"), is a whodunit without a stereotyped female cop, excessive complications, or an unthinkable serial killer. It does nothing whatsoever to hide that fact. So how come it's so brilliant?
Well, it's everything else that makes it great. While the whodunit part still has the needed and well-done complications (the film is, after all, written by Brian Helgeland, who wrote "L.A. Confidential"), it's elevated by a veil of mood, shadow, and deep character study. Eastwood knows how to spellbind us, and grabs our attention without pleading for it. Surely enough, by the time I reached the end of "Mystic River", I was lost in mesmerization. I was so gripped by the story and so wowed by the acting that I had to stay in my seat for a bit during the credits, just to let everything sink in.
The film's story is centered around three childhood friends in Boston: Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn), Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins), and Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon). In a flashback that starts the film, we see how Dave was taken away by child molesters for four days before he escaped, leaving a permanent scar on him for the rest of his life (the two others never forgot the day either).
In present times, we now see that Dave is a family man closely attached to his son and his wife Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden). Jimmy is a convenience store manager with a beautiful wife (Laura Linney) and a daughter named Katie (Emmy Rossum) that he loves more than anything, and is also getting his life together after a two-year stint in prison. Sean is a Massachusetts detective who has a great partner in Whitey Powers (Laurence Fishburne), but has also been divorced (his wife keeps calling him, but can't say a word).
On what seems a typical night, Katie heads out with her friends. The next morning, she's found dead. Jimmy is distraught, and vows to avenge her murder. Sean and Whitey are on the case, collecting evidence leading to Katie's boyfriend Brendan Harris (Tom Guiry), with whom she was planning to go to Las Vegas. But a new suspect arises: Dave Boyle. On the same night Katie was murdered, Dave claimed he was sliced in the stomach and hand by a mugger. Sean and Whitey, however, match his injuries to the way in which Katie might have been killed, and both the case and story continue to get deeper as Dave and Jimmy reconnect as friends.
What I've given you is merely the setup of the story, which continues to unfold with its characters' personalities. Helgeland, who did a great job adapting "L.A. Confidential", one of the reasons I love movies, pays more attention to detailing the characters than overly complicating the mystery. We can completely believe these people and almost everything they do (with the exception of a few parts of the ending), and their respective depths give the story its edge. These are just ordinary people, one of whom has suffered a traumatizing experience, and they're what make the mystery great instead of just the mystery itself.
Among these gripping figures, the most intricate and compelling is Dave Boyle. The molestation he suffered as a child is very disturbing, but he truly is touching and lovable. However, as complications grow for each person in the film, the dark layers of Boyle's personality are revealed. He thinks of himself as undead, like a vampire, and suddenly becomes more haunting. "Maybe one day you wake up and you forget what it's like to be human," he says. Yet, his life is completely represented in the beginning, where, while writing his name in cement after Jimmy and Sean, he's taken away by the pedophiles (supposedly cops) before he can finish. This perfectly echoes the incompleteness of his life after being molested, and the significance is both accurate and powerful.
"Mystic River" is the kind of film that wins acclaim for its acting, and rightly so. Deciding the best performance is difficult in cases like this, but it's safe to say that, even with the chilling performance of Tim Robbins along with Marcia Gay Harden and the excellent pairing of Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne, Sean Penn is the best in the cast. While I would love to see Johnny Depp (who was extraordinary himself) win Best Actor, Penn rocked my world. He carries both raw power and human traits in his role, showing much of both. It's safe to say that, along with the help of all the favorable publicity, he may take home the statue for this one.
One of the things I love to see in a movie is dark mood and shadow, which is what "Mystic River" has plenty of. The cinematography by Tom Stern is immaculate, with a lot of feeling and darkness. The gloomy tones are anything but upbeat, but that's how it's supposed to feel anyway. This is a dark movie, with a gloomy feel, and it gets under your skin. That is, after all, what it's supposed to do, and it does it.
As much as I love this film, I must confess that I would be slightly disappointed if it won Best Picture over "Return of the King". Why? Well, for one, I simply feel that "Return of the King" is the superior movie. Both are emotionally charging, but the key difference is that ROTK knows how to end and still leave you feeling for the characters. "Mystic River", meanwhile, has what at first seems to be a fittingly depressing ending but all of a sudden rushes to patch it up and make it happy. It's what I like to call a "downer, upper" ending, but "Mystic River" makes the "upper" part feel somewhat forced. It didn't ruin the film for me (obviously, and I still give it ***** and an A+), but it annoyed my dad, and while I can't spoil why for the sake of this review, I do understand his views. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then see the film and ask me. But I'd rather you see the film for the sake of enjoyment rather than argument, for in the end it is simply a masterpiece.
Nevertheless, even with its near perfection, "Mystic River" is basically the film that is going to win Best Picture anyway because it's depressing and realistic, which is all the Academy will take. The Oscars have always had a prejudice against fantasies, and it's not too likely to end all of a sudden. But Peter Jackson is the one who should take Best Picture and Best Director, for his effort on the whole trilogy goes beyond best of the year quality and into the annals of film itself. Besides, Clint Eastwood has already won both of those awards for "Unforgiven", a great movie that escalated with its important moral of the downside of gunplay. It pulled no punches in telling its story, whereas "Mystic River" seems to be trying to hole something up at its ending. Yet, it seems that I'm turning on this film all of a sudden, and I am certainly not. I just feel the Academy should give Jackson his due.
All the same, however, Eastwood's direction for this movie is nothing short of perfect. He's had a remarkable career indeed: not just "Unforgiven", but he's also played perhaps the best figure in western history in the Man With No Name, not to mention starred in two movies with an ape. Now with "Mystic River" he shows that he's miles away from the nursing home. Check that: he's YEARS away from the nursing home.
This review is purely of my doing, and I do not copy off other reviewers.
So, what does this rating system mean anyway?
*****-A masterpiece of filmmaking that should be seen at all costs. Kill for a ticket or copy if you must.
****1/2-A fabulous movie. Do not miss it.
****-An excellent show. Be sure to see it.
***1/2-A good film. Recommended.
***-Decent movie that could be a lot better. Should pass a rainy day. **1/2-Average movie with a number of flaws.
**-Pretty bad with a few saving graces. Instantly forgettable. *1/2-Bad. Don't see it.
*-As much fun as having your seat kicked for two hours. 1/2-Like drinking liters of cough syrup. Boycott it. 0-Death may come
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