MYSTIC RIVER (2003)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Best Film of 2003
Viewed on December 13th, 2003
For a dark, brooding masterpiece of violence and moral decay in a small town, you need not look further than Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River," a startling, highly emotional film that will cut deep into your heart. You'll be struggling long after it is over to remove the obstruction cutting into your heart. It is that powerful.
The movie begins with a startling sequence where three young boys try to play hockey on the street. When they lose their pseudo-puck, they decide to inscribe their names on a cement block. Two men arrive in a car, supposedly undercover cops, and take one of the boys away. Right away, you know you are in the hands of a capable, gripping tale by a formidable director. The ominous, grayish
skies lend a dankness to the proceedings immediately. Tim Robbins plays Dave, the kidnapped kid who ran away from his captors, now a father seen roaming the streets of South Boston, walking over his own memories. He is married to Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden), another in the line of dutiful, forgiving wives
who reaches a point of no return. One night, Dave comes home with blood on his hands and a laceration on his chest - who did he murder and why?
Cut to Jimmy (Sean Penn), another childhood friend who witnessed Dave's kidnapping. He is a reformed thug, married and with a daughter and he's the owner of a local convenience store. One day, his teenage daughter is found murdered in a ditch. Jimmy is furious, desperately wanting to know who committed the crime. He hires his thuggish partners to do their own personal investigation around
town, the kind only they can do and not the cops. Still, a homicide investigator, Sean (Kevin Bacon), another childhood friend, is in charge along with his partner, Whitey (Laurence Fishburne). They come up with the usual clues followed by the usual interrogation room scenes, though they rival anything you might see on TV's "Law and Order."
What sets apart "Mystic River" from the expected mechanics of your average suspense thriller are the relationships and the guilt and rage fueling these characters. Jimmy is a torn soul after finding his daughter dead, screaming with agonizing pain in one of the most highly charged emotional scenes I've
seen in quite some time (the scene mirrors a singularly powerful moment in "The Pledge," a film Sean Penn directed). Jimmy wants to kill the one responsible, but his search in the small town may be deflected by the ensuing homicide investigation. The investigator Sean sets the case apart from his personal ties to Jimmy, though the two have been estranged for some time. It is Dave whom we worry about, never knowing for sure what crime he committed. Could he be responsible for Jimmy's daughter's death? And since Celeste knows Dave murdered someone and is aware of his temper tantrums, will she go to the police or will she do something more drastic?
"Mystic River" is methodically adherent to its meaty story and three-dimensional characters. What is more amazing in this day and age of speeded-up, zonk-you-out-and-you'll-be-entertained spectacles is that "Mystic River" creeps up on you and jangles your nerves, particularly with uneasy, sweat-inducing tension (the same holds true of the similar "In the Bedroom.") It is remarkably tense because, by the time we get to the tightly coiled finale, we have invested so much in the characters that their actions are
determined by their behavioral instincts. Jimmy's crying fits giving way to inevitable violence, Dave's own deep-rooted inhibitions about his kidnapping giving way to volatile tempers, and Sean has his own fear that one of his friends may be the killer.
There is also Jimmy's wife (Laura Linney) who has a speech about Jimmy's importance to her kids that is as close to Shakespearean as one can get nowadays - it is a spine-tingling moment. And let's not forget Celeste's lack of subtlety - she looks like a clueless schoolgirl who knows too much and can't
hide it. Sean Penn proves his worth in more ways than one. After greatly diverse turns in "The Falcon and the Snowman," "We're No Angels," "Dead Man Walking" and "Sweet and Lowdown," Penn delivers his most fully-realized portrait to date. I hate to say it but even premier actors like Robert De Niro or Al Pacino have nothing on the emotional weight Penn has invested in Jimmy - Penn's emotions
are so full of rage and indicative of such a sense of loss that I'd say this actor is past due his numerously entitled awards. Penn is not afraid of risks and his reputation exceeds him. Tim Robbins also gives one of his most nuanced performances yet - his hunched-over, flinching, repressed Dave is like a walking phantom of the neighborhood. Here is a man who has just as much hurt and pain as Jimmy but
conceals it in such a way that you feel he could erupt without a moment's hesitation. It is further proof that Robbins can deliver the most implicit of emotions even while fidgeting (a common Robbins trait) - it certainly suits the character.
Kevin Bacon has perhaps a thankless role as Sean but he brings enough of his own suppressed rage to stand out among these acting giants. Sean has his own personal hell, including a wife who always calls him but never speaks. Ultimately, the real obstruction is this murder investigation and, for once, we
have a homicide investigator who honestly doesn't let his guard down, treating this murder as he would any other. It helps that his partner, Whitey (Laurence Fishburne, in an even more thankless role), keeps Sean's mind exclusively on the details and character witness intuition.
"Mystic River" is also director Clint Eastwood at the top of his form, bringing out the story and characters without condescending to his audience or moral judgment. Though Eastwood's style is simplistic (using mostly static angles and occasionally allowing the camera to creep in on the actors), it works beautifully for this story. This is a film about people with as much hurt and pain as one can bear. And Eastwood, the true maverick, listens in attentively and with compassion.
