Quentin Tarantino's Twisting Crime Noir Epic

 PULP FICTION (1994)
Reviewed and Reassessed by Jerry Saravia
Best Film of 1994

"Pulp Fiction" is still, to this day in 2022 as I write this, one of the most pleasurable movies I have seen in a great while, and it will stand as the breakthrough movie of the 90's. It is a love it or hate it deal - either you admire the artistry of Quentin Tarantino's dark flourishes or you detest the sickening violence and brutality inherent throughout (the latter has still caused a stir in every film he's made since). Not only is the title "Pulp Fiction" a household name but so is Quentin Tarantino, a video store clerk who never went to film school and became an overnight success directing 1992's gory "Reservoir Dogs." All the attention is not for naught; "Pulp Fiction" is a great, rhapsodically inventive film that breaks new ground, is politically incorrect and unconventional. Tarantino has not so much reinvented film as much as he has rejuvenated it - he has brought back the sheer joy we all share of watching a great movie. 

"Pulp Fiction" won the Golden Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994 and won the Best Original Screenplay award at the Oscars. Since the film's release, "Pulp" has erroneously stirred great controversy over its obscenities, short bursts of bloody violence, racial overtones in its everyday use of slurs, sexual abuse and rape, and misogyny. All of these charges are largely silly because there is more violence and misogyny in the cartoonish "True Lies" and "Forrest Gump" than in "Pulp" (all released the same year). What upsets people is that "Pulp" is more open and subtly honest with these issues, and because the characters only seem cold and heartless. This is largely a falsity as you will observe. There is truth in the film but it is mostly an exaggeration, and shouldn't be taken seriously. 

John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson play the main characters, Vincent Vega and Jules, two black-suited hoods who work for the big, black, bald boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Vincent and Jules are on a mission to retrieve a mysterious stolen briefcase belonging to Marsellus. Some college roommates are in possession of the briefcase, and Jules torments and kills two of them with his gun, but not before ranting and raving a biblical quote from "Ezekiel 25:17." Later, Vincent meets Marsellus's wife, Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman). He is supposed to entertain her while the boss is away on business. They go to a 50's diner restaurant called "Jack Rabbit Slim's" where they do the Bat dance to Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell." When they come back to her house, Mia has a heroin overdose where she is treated by an adrenaline needle to the heart administered by Vincent at a drug dealer's house (a frighteningly funny bit cribbed from Scorsese's documentary, "American Boy"). By the way, the grungy drug dealer is hilariously played by Eric Stoltz ("Killing Zoe"). 

Another story circulates around "The Gold Watch," and this concerns a hot-headed boxer named Butch (Bruce Willis). He is told to throw a fight by Marsellus (this subplot reaches as far back as "The Set-Up" and a hundred other noirish tales from the 50's). Of course, Butch does not throw the fight and kills the opponent. He tries to flee with his French girlfriend (Mia De Medeiros) but he won't leave without his gold watch, which he left at his apartment. When he tries to retrieve it, he finds Vincent whom he kills without hesitation. Butch almost gets away scot-free until he confronts Marsellus on the street - they hit and shoot each other until they are caught and bound by S&M freaks in one of the most thrillingly gory moments in the history of cinema. Then we return to the Jules and Vincent predicament involving the roommates and the mysterious suitcase - this episode is titled "The Bonnie Situation." Jules and Vincent kill all the roommates except for Marvin. They take Marvin along with them, and in the car, Jules feels that their survival from death was an act of God. Just then, Vincent accidentally blows off Marvin's head and, needless to say, it is a bloody mess. They arrive at Jimmy's house (Jimmy is played by Quentin Tarantino) where they store the bloody car in his garage until no-nonsense Winston the Wolf (Harvey Keitel) comes by to help the boys clean up the mess by telling them how to do it. This whole sequence plays like an eerie extension of the Billy Batts trunk scene from "GoodFellas."

"Pulp Fiction" is thrilling eye-opening fun and a miraculous movie simply because it plays and twists with the conventions of at least three different genres - the lurid atmosphere of film noir, the standard action-oriented melodrama, and your basic gangster crime picture. The difference is that the characters end up in bizarre situations that aren't dictated by cliched plot points or mediocre chases. These characters live and die by doing stupid things! Butch's stupid deed is to get his precious gold watch back at this apartment where the killers are inevitably waiting for him. When he arrives, there seems to be no one around. Ah! But Vincent went to the bathroom and left his silencer on the kitchen counter thus making it easy for Butch to blow him away!

"Pulp Fiction" has one classic scene after another and my favorite is the extended sequence with Vincent and Mia on their date at the Jack Rabbit Slim's restaurant where the waiter is dressed as Buddy Holly (Steve Buscemi). The conversation between Mia and Vincent consists of T.V. shows, Mia's supposed foot massage, five-dollar milk shakes, and "think of something to say"-type language, while they shoot frequent glances at each other. It is a delightful, entertaining and wonderful sequence to behold. The philosophical discussions between Vincent and Jules are also priceless, including the discussion on McDonald's hamburgers in America versus France, and let's not forget that Jules's favorite burger is the Big Kahuna burger.

"Pulp Fiction" has been severely criticized for containing foul language, gratuitous violence, and thoroughly repellent characters whom you couldn't care less about. Firstly, the violence is not gratuitous, it is explosive and brief (unlike some of "Reservoir Dogs" more profane passages). Secondly, these characters are not repellent (except for the nonsensical inclusion of the Gimp)
because Tarantino shows that he cares about them by instilling them with humanistic touches. Marsellus seems to be a one-dimensional big gangster boss until you see the hate etched on his face when he is hideously raped by one of the hillbillys. In fact, Butch goes back to save Marsellus from these hillbilly
freaks even though Marsellus initially wanted him killed. And look at the conclusion of the film (which is actually the beginning) where Jules decides to get out of the gangster business after having experienced a case of "divine intervention," and decides he'll "walk the earth like Caine in 'Kung Fu'." Rather than killing a lowlife thief (Tim Roth) and his girlfriend (Amanda Plummer) who are trying to rob a cafe, Jules chooses to let them go - he is doing the responsible, ethical thing rather than have a bloodbath on his and everyone else's hands (Tarantino hasn't come close to such an ethical decision since - most of his films feature bloody shootouts and sheer mayhem). Finally, don't forget Vincent aiding Mia after a heroin overdose. The scene is both frightening and hilarious, like most of Tarantino's masterful epic. 

Perhaps, this is Tarantino's finest hour, and he may never make another movie quite like "Pulp Fiction." ("Inglourious Basterds" and "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" and the low-key crime drama "Jackie Brown" have come close to eclipsing "Pulp"). Some critics have said that he may never make a real movie about real people in real situations dealing with real emotions ("Jackie Brown" excepted). That may be true, but "Pulp Fiction" is as real a movie as we are likely to get for sometime. It is also one of the greatest entertainments of the 1990's.

Email from the Shop around the Corner

 YOU'VE GOT MAIL (1998)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Originally viewed in 1998

I have always admired writer-director Nora Ephron's efforts, as mild as some were, such as "Heartburn"

and "This is my Life." "Sleepless in Seattle" is one of her best, a sophisticated romantic comedy with

allusions to old movie classics such as "An Affair to Remember" and "The Wild Bunch." It had the innate, likable pairing of Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and some delightful zingers courtesy of Rosie O'Donnell. The surprise is that "You've Got Mail" is even better - as romantically pure and cleverly funny as you can imagine, and Hanks and Ryan are back in roles they were born to play.

Hanks stars as the aggressive Joe Fox, the owner of a Borders-type bookstore called "Fox Books" where they serve cappuccinos and thousands of books for discount prices. His business is the type to
put any real literary bookstore out of business, including "The Shop Around the Corner" - a children's bookstore run by Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan). Kathleen holds this precious commodity dearly to her heart, and it is practically around the corner from Fox Books. Distracting her from her business is her laptop computer, which she regularly uses to talk to an anonymous male friend through the wonders of e-mail. She has a regular rapport with this friend, and patiently waits for her beloved, a writer for The New York Observer (Greg Kinnear), to leave for work before she rattles around her computer. Only, she's not aware that her e-mail buddy is her competitor Joe Fox!

Of course, Joe is unaware of this himself, and regularly waits to go online until his girlfriend, a book editor (Parker Posey), leaves for work. The e-mails mount as they both write to each other, seeking help
about their business prospects. And never shall the twain meet, though we constantly hope that they do.

Nora Ephron is the perfect writer for such lightweight nonsense, but I was surprised how sophisticated and clever the dialogue was. Joe's double entendres hit a 10 on the laughometer - the best scene is when
he visits Kathleen's bookstore and tries to prevent his kids from saying "F-O-X". There are also the witticisms of supporting characters, such as Joe's philandering father (Dabney Coleman) and his
philandering grandfather (John Randolph), who describes women as being "enchanting"; his loose, Chris Tucker-ish executive pal (Dave Chappelle); and Kathleen's old bookkeeper friend (Jean Stapleton), who remarks that her last boyfriend "ran Spain". These characters are so joyous and entertaining to watch that they are partly responsible for making "You've Got Mail" such a success.
Ephron has less success with Joe and Kathleen's better halves. Parker Posey, one of the ubiquitous queens of independent film, is given little to do and is too boring and insipid to inspire much interest -
no wonder Joe is less than enthralled by her presence. This is partly true of Greg Kinnear's character, though he is given a little more leverage by Ephron and is allowed some sparkling zingers at a cocktail
party scene with Posey.

Another mild flaw in "You've Got Mail" is the relentless number of oldies playing on the soundtrack - how many times do we need to hear "Rockin' Robin"? The only reason so many immaterial songs appear on the soundtrack is so that they can make more sales at record stores. Only the inclusion of Harry Nilsson's "Over the Rainbow" feels justified. The center of "You've Got Mail" is the movie star combo of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, and they are as delightful and adorable a pairing as James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan were, or Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Hanks is surefooted as he switches subtly from being charming and likable to mean and comically furious. Ryan is, for once, not too
bubbly or cute and handles her comedic scenes with flair and good timing. Her last scene, where her eyes fill with understanding, hope and regret, is stunning to watch. Combine that with Ephron's crisp,
often hilarious dialogue, and "You've Got Mail" makes for one of the best romantic comedies since "When Harry Met Sally."

Peter Bogdanovich's Search for Emotional Clarity

PETER BOGDANOVICH: 
SEARCHING FOR EMOTIONAL CLARITY  
By Jerry Saravia

When I think of a world class director like Peter Bogdanovich, usually 1971's "The Last Picture Show" springs immediately to mind. It is quite possibly his most mature, most quintessentially nostalgic film and yet what is best about it is its mature look at nostalgia without being swallowed by it. Set in a western town where relationships are frail and emotions threaten to erupt, it also shows that memories can last but the time and place it happens in may not. When Bogdanovich returned to this world in "Texasville," it felt unnecessary and protracted - that world of the original was gone and everyone had to try to move forward. And yet the film that most resonates with me from Peter Bogdanovich is not "The Last Picture Show" but actually a 1985 sleeper hit called "Mask." It may not be his best film but it is one I have returned to throughout the years since its initial release so, technically, it is my favorite. Not only is it emotionally rich and devastating, it also contains Cher's most superb, most fiery performance and somehow the director managed to coax a richly detailed and humanistic performance out of Eric Stoltz as the intelligent high-schooler with an unfortunate and extremely rare physical condition known as craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, Rocky Dennis.

The film has a sunny, California-centric feel to it, which is at odds with how everyone treats Rocky at first sight. Rocky experiences humanity at its ugliest, unable to get past their own prejudices or initial misgivings at someone's appearance. Whether it is the high school principal, the students or almost anyone else who did not grow up with Rocky, they gawk and they do not comprehend Rocky's disfigured look. Rusty Dennis (Cher), Rocky's biker mother who cannot tolerate these prejudices, is out to protect her son and to nurture him but there is a limit and some of life's hardships are beyond her control (when Rocky is feeling ill, she simply says, "Make yourself well"). Rocky can impress a blind girl who loves horses but he can't get close to those who can see his deformity, unless they work past it (the high school community eventually gets used to Rocky because he has a sense of humor and is intelligent). Rusty, at one point, hires a prostitute for Rocky for one night. She wants him to be happy yet, amazingly, thanks to Cher's nuanced performance as a fiercely honest woman and protective mother, she knows his time will be up soon. 

I don't know if this is Peter Bogdanovich's most personal film but it sure feels like it (he has been quoted that he made the film for his late lover, Dorothy Stratten, who related to the alienation of "The Elephant Man") . Maybe Peter also saw himself as Rocky or as Rusty, the latter as one who did not judge others no matter what they looked like. With all the films Bogdanovich has made (some better than others though we might want to forget his TV movie sequel to "To Sir, With Love" starring the late Sidney Poitier), I always found his best work ("Targets," "The Last Picture Show," "The Cat's Meow," "The Great Buster") always allowed room for nuance, for some form of emotional clarity and degree of sensitivity to his characters, in addition to his documentary subjects such as John Ford and Buster Keaton. (Peter also turned out to be a good actor, especially in the long gestation period for Orson Welles' "The Other Side of the Wind.") But it is finally "Mask" that shows Bogdanovich had a greater sensitivity than we ever imagined as a director - he found his footing in a story everyone could relate to. He had found emotional clarity.

Carrey and the Farrelly Brothers are embarrassingly mental

ME, MYSELF AND IRENE

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Viewed on March 5th, 2001

Jim Carrey can be as funny as anyone on screen with the right screenplay and the right director. He also proved to be humane and soulful in films such as "The Truman Show" and "Man on the Moon." The Farrely Brothers proved their comic worth in Carrey's "Dumb and Dumber" and with their obscenely hilarious "There's Something About Mary." Both Carrey and the Farrelys reunite in one obscenely unfunny and desperate film called "Me, Myself and Irene," which has a great comic premise that is hardly milked for all its worth.

Carrey plays a Rhode Island police officer named Charlie who is seen as a joke in his community. His wife has left him with three black kids, fathered by a snippy black limousine driver who happens to be a Mensa member! They run off together while Charlie is left to raise the kids. Years pass and the
community sees him less as an authority figure and more as a hapless fool. But Charlie is repressing his rage at people and it finally comes out in the form of Hank, complete with an attitude and a Clint Eastwood accent. Now the little girl who plays hopscotch on the street despite Charlie's warnings is
practically drowned by Hank! Not funny. The woman who buys a vaginal product at the supermarket and walks ahead of Charlie on line with tons of groceries is now embarrassed by Hank, who gives a full description of the product on the speaker system. Not funny.

Still, give the Farrelys credit for trying since I thought that eventually the film would find its comic rhythm and exploit the schizophrenic angle of Charlie. Not so. We are left with a plot involving Rene Zellweger as a woman on the run from some crooked cops and a crooked ex-boyfriend involving golf
clubs and some other assorted business, none of which merits as much as a chuckle. Then there is some more business involving an albino waiter who may be a family murderer and tags along with Charlie and the girl, but again, no major laughs to be found. So what we are left with are countless sexually
scatological jokes involving dildos, an actually funny scene involving a cow, a scene involving a chicken placed in an unlikely orifice, and so on. When a nearly dead cow gets the only major laugh in a Jim Carrey movie, you know you are in trouble.

I never liked "Ace Ventura" but I've admired Carrey in it, as I have in most of his films including the often riotous "Dumb and Dumber." For the first time, however, I actually found Carrey excruciatingly boring in this film, exuding little of his genuine comic talent or gift for mimicry. In fact, I am
also a firm believer that Carrey can act and he has a mental breakdown scene that is relatively touching to watch. Outside of that, if the Farrelys paid more attention to Charlie's character than Hank's and if they made Zellweger exploit her comic zest (shown to far greater effect in "Nurse Betty"), then
this might have been a real winner. Instead, it is the Farrelys merely coasting on sexual jokes and innuendoes galore with Carrey merely playing with a dildo or himself. Embarrassing is the word.

Boredom Seldom Interrupted

GIRL, INTERRUPTED (1999)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I never thought that mental illness could be portrayed in such a stale, anonymous manner but that is how "Girl, Interrupted" unspools its subject matter. The film wants to make the case that mental
illness can be a state of mind for some, and a strong reality for others - If only the young women portrayed possessed some core of humanity.

The film begins with Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder), an 18-year-old who has just drunk a bottle of vodka while ingesting a bottle of aspirin. She is diagnosed with "borderline personality disorder," and
is thus sent to Claymoore hospital in Boston. The screenplay, adapted from Susanna Kaysen's true-to-life novel, never makes it clear whether Susanna admitted herself to the hospital or if her parents had her admitted. Nevertheless, she is taken in to Claymoore's psychiatric facility and supervised by a head nurse played by Whoopi Goldberg. Susanna is faced with an array of distinguished women such
as one who nearly burned her face off, another one obsessed with laxatives and chicken, and so on. The one foxy chick who seems truly nutty, pardon the pun, is Lisa (Angelina Jolie), a highly dangerous
sociopath who confuses her aorta with her neck. Lisa feels threatened at first by Susanna but gradually, they click.

While watching "Girl, Interrupted," I was reminded of the stark documentary "Titicut Follies" by Frederick Wiseman, which dealt with the horrors of a mental hospital. When you saw the patients, you knew they were patients afflicted with an illness. The same holds true of Milos Forman's maniacally classic "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." "Girl, Interrupted" features patients that might be at home in TV's "Dawson's Creek" - that might be a little extreme but these women hardly seem troubled, only bland occupants of a far too sanitized looking institution.

The problem lies in the screenplay that supplies character types, not true characters of depth and emotion. Susanna hardly seems the slightest bit troubled - her scene with the psychiatrist should have
convinced him that she was perfectly sane but what do I know. Perhaps in 1967, before Prozac became a household name, psychiatrists had their own preconceived notions of what mental illness was. But these girls seem relatively harmless, even to themselves. This is more like a watered down version of "Cuckoo's Nest," and far too bland to inspire much interest.

The sparkle of "Girl, Interrupted" can be found in Jolie's vibrant, edgy performance. She brings soul and an allure to Lisa, and it is gut-wrenching to watch her. Her long blonde silvery hair and big,
clownish lips evoke a tough, sexy demeanor that is riveting to watch. I would have followed this complex character anywhere. The rest of "Girl, Interrupted," however, is yawn-inducing and lacking
in thematic richness. It sort of drifts away and hardly leaves a trace of itself. The boredom is seldom interrupted.

Loving Lucy in all her complexity

 BEING THE RICARDOS (2021)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Various film biographies always have to fulfill certain criteria such as, can an actor fully embody someone's soul and spirit without necessarily being a lookalike? Anthony Hopkins looked nothing like Nixon yet he managed to carry the weight and burden of being Richard Nixon in Oliver Stone's "Nixon." Serbian actor Petar Božović played the iconic inventor Nikola Tesla in "The Secret Life of Nikola Tesla" and certainly looked the part but did not emote much. With the exception of Nina Arianda as Vivian Vance, Ethel herself from "I Love Lucy," none of the actors look much like their real-life counterparts in "Being the Ricardos" yet they do embody their spirit, their nuances and their demeanor. Major plus and with witty, pungent and poignant writing courtesy of writer-director Aaron Sorkin, this is one marvelously terrific biography.

Nicole Kidman is Lucille Ball and we get to see her hands, her profile in silhouette, and we hear her voice but we don't see the full picture of Kidman as Lucille immediately. It is a surefire way of getting the audience to warm up to the idea of Kidman playing such an iconic legend and, surprise, she is exceedingly good. As the film starts after we see closeups of a radio while Lucy and Desi fight (or make love after fighting), we are at a table read filled with more tension than there is in finding an earring in a crate full of grapes. The "I Love Lucy" writers one-up each other, especially Alia Shawkat as Madelyn Pugh, who has her own ideas of what comedy should entail and sees herself as funnier than fellow writer Bob Carroll (Jake Lacy), who is not as quick witted at creating jokes. At the table read is Vivian Vance (Nina Arianda) who has her own issues with playing Ethel, trying to lose weight though being reminded by Lucy that more women look like Vance than Lucy ("Well, you are not exactly a pin-up girl", quips Vivian). Also on board for the table read is actor William Frawley (J.K Simmons), Fred Mertz on the show, who tries to have a drink at 10:15 am instead of 10 and hears more wit displayed between the writers' bantering than the actual show itself. Everyone at the table is waiting for Lucy and Desi Arnaz, the Ricardos themselves, when word is out that Lucy might be a Communist (thanks to a dishonorable mention by gossip columnist Walter Winchell). 

Writer-director Aaron Sorkin is mostly concerned with the backroom intrigue of rehearsals, table reads and the shooting of a revolutionary show like "I Love Lucy" (the first to use a three-camera setup for a TV show), and the slightly turbulent relationship between Lucy and Desi (beautifully played by Javier Bardem). The film's structure is during a whole week in 1952 with occasional seamless flashbacks to Lucy's first encounter with Ricky and her early days of radio, and the ending of her RKO contract in more "serious" roles. In latter years of "I Love Lucy's" production, Lucy knows deep down that Desi is possibly an adulterer yet she loves him, though she frequently questions his arriving home late at night. Yet her mind is always on the work, on perfecting a scene. It is fascinating to see Lucy on the set trying to figure out, in her mind, how to set up the gags and improve the comic timing. She also questions a scene where Ricky arrives home, says "guess who" and covers Lucy's eyes while she rattles off a bunch of other people's names other than Ricky. Lucy's thought centers on the audience - will they think she actually knows several other men that may enter her apartment when Ricky is not home?

"Being the Ricardos" also covers the national press jumping on a hot, troubling topic in the 1950's - being labeled a Communist. Lucy apparently registered as a Communist twenty years earlier to appease her grandfather and it is coming back to haunt her and could lead to the demise of "I Love Lucy." There is also the issue of Lucy being pregnant and figuring that as a plot device for the show though Jess Oppenheimer (a wonderfully droll, perceptive performance by Tony Hale) - the "I Love Lucy" creator, producer, head writer - insists the network nor their Philip Morris sponsor would ever approve (truth is, he was okay with it but not the studio). All of these events, compressed in one week though they were seasons apart at least, give the film urgency and snap. Every scene has verve, purpose and enough emotional punch to drive its narrative home. Though I could have lived without the faux interviews of the writers and Oppenheimer addressing the past and played by different actors, "Being the Ricardos" has ample drama and maximum tension to keep everyone glued to the screen. Kidman and Bardem and the rest of the cast made me, imagine this, love "I Love Lucy" even more.

Eastwood Listens in on Emotional Pain and moral ambiguity

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.