Mystic River: Post When You See It

[Matt]

<center>Mystic River</center>

<center>http://us.ent4.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/allposters/41/1808435941p.jpg</center>

official Website: http://mysticrivermovie.warnerbros.com/index.php

Teaser Trailer: http://filmforce.ign.com/moremovies/objects/34899.html

Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Cast: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden

Release Date: October 8th, 2003 (limited) October 18th (nationwide)

Premise: When Jimmy Markum's daughter is found murdered, his childhood friend Sean Devine--now a detective--is assigned to the case. Sean's personal life starts unraveling, as his investigation takes him back into a world of violence and pain he thought he'd left behind. It also puts him on a collision course with Jimmy Markum, a man with his own mysterious dark past, who is now eager to solve the crime with brutal justice. And then there is Dave Boyle, a man who hides monstrous secrets beneath a bland facade--secrets that his wife, Celeste, is only beginning to suspect. As the race for a killer heats up, all are pulled closer toward an abyss that will force them to face their true selves--and will mark them as irrevocably as the past itself has tainted their lives.

REVIEWS:

"A crisp, well-made, visually astute film that will provoke and divide [Eastwood's] admirers."
-- Kirk Honeycutt, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

"Naked and Loving It" - Film Hobbit; His real review coming soon!

[Matt]

86% Freshness at RT with 125 reviews in.

[NotSoSecretAgent]

I saw it yesterday. I liked it, but I didn't love it like EDJ (surprise, right?). Very well-acted.

[Doom]

It's not my favorite movie of the year, but damn still really liked it. Brilliant acting.

Was there something about Laura Linney's character? It felt like I missed something about her.

[Cogito]

I suspect that this movie would be enjoyed a lot more, by those who’ve read the book that it was based on. It has an awful lot of things going on, and although some definitely are clichés, many are not, so there are a lot of things to keep track of.

This thing is so complex, I’m sure I’ll have more to add later, heh.

Actors:
- Sean Penn (Jimmy): Fantastic. Some may view him as over-the-top, but his character was supposed to be that way: very, very emotional, aggressive, take-charge, in-your-face. You could even see that with the young actor who played this character as a child.
- Tim Robbins (Dave): Fantastic, although this character didn’t have as wide a playing field as Penn’s, of course. But Robbins persona has a natural, seemingly innate friendliness and positive-ness about it, that has always made me think that the characters he portrays, will inevitably come out on top, if you know what I mean? In the Shawshank Redemption, even as miserable as it was, he always seemed to carry a glimmer of hope (and it being a King novel, it predictably came out okay). In Arlington Road, it worked wonderfully to his advantage, since he actually played a bad guy—but we never got to see him act out the revelation that he actually was evil on screen, so he sort of always appeared to be that friendly, nice Robbins-fellow. In Mystic River, he was a profoundly, completely, dead, lost soul. This is a fantastic actor. Awesome.
- Kevin Bacon (Sean, the cop): Really great stuff also.
- Cayden Boyd (I’m guessing here, but the kid who played the boy who was in love with the girl who was killed: Michael): young guy, did a really fantastic job of displaying anguish and anger. Just a single scene, but really pretty impressive.
- Marcia Gay Harden (Dave’s wife): Great also, a weak, ****ed-up soul, and a match for Dave. Very sad, lost.

SPOILERS:
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CLICHÉS:

- Molested as child = psycho/“damaged goods.”
- Vigilante killer gets wrong guy.
- Cop investigating friend/relative crime (is this even allowed – aren’t cops pulled off cases like this, due to personal conflicts, like in court cases?)
- Near-Deus ex Machina revelation as to who the real killer is (I could forgive this, if we viewed this as a slice-of-life, “Waiting For Godot”-piece, but it is after all a Mystery).
- The silent phone calls from Bacon’s wife were a little too cute—and it was far too predictable that he managed to say “sorry” as the case was rounded up, and that this was the magic word that got her talking, and get em back together again—much too cute.


NOT CLICHÉS AT ALL, BUT REFRESHING/DARING SURPRISES:

- Sean knows Jimmy killed Dave, but decides to do nothing about it, and comments that the Dave he knew, disappeared up that road, 25 years ago (also, there is the concrete, where Jimmy and Sean had written their names, but Dave only managed to write “Da” before the pedophiles took him…). This is wrong on many different levels of course – I’m not arguing about this being right or wrong, it’s just very daring.
- After Jimmy kills Dave, but subsequently learns that he was not his daughter’s killer after all, Jimmy’s wife consoles him with a Machiavellian speech, that he had done the right thing after all—he was the king, he would do anything to protect his daughter, and that she had just put her other daughters to bed, telling them that he would protect them, and that they felt completely safe because of it… That his murder of the (relatively speaking) innocent Dave, was acceptable. And then, she belittles Dave’s wife, saying “What kind of wife says that kind of things about her husband, anyways?” – and in a horrific way, she actually has a point! We see Dave’s wife the next day, and she’s all ****ed up, miserable—not good or evil, but perhaps she always was like this, and this was what drew her to the “damaged goods” that was Dave? And will this now be passed on to their son? It seems so damn complex, I feel I would have to read the book to fully understand this, or to even judge the film.

[Evil Dead Junkie]

I'll save you some time Cogs what's on the page is on the screen. The only thing really missing is some incredably dark shit in which Dave fights his impulses to become a child molester himself.

I have to say I don't consider Childmolestation = Pyschological Damage is cliche because its statistically backed up.

Glad you recognized the brilliance of the wet cement name. That's what cemented this as my #1 film of the year, the simplicity and subtext in that frame is more then most films can convey in 3 hours.

[Cogito]

Ah, thanks, well that'll save my time :)

I may have expressed myself poorly there -- what I had an issue with, wasn't so much the "damaged goods" part, but the bit about violent tendencies.

Yes, obviously, child molestation, can have enormous and devestating consequences, but by no means does it mean that the victim is automatically destined to become violent. I have no problem with the assumption that it can have an enormous effect (although humans are amazing, and it is utterly amazing what some can overcome--I mean, they still suffer--but they can still manage to live normal lives), and can devestate lives, if they receive no treatment. But to assume that they all turn into killers, is just wrong. Yes, it is true that a relatively high number of serial killers were abused as children--or, for instance, that they pulled wings off of flies, for that matter--but to say that abused children (or fly-torturers) are potential serial killers, is to put the cart before the horse.

All that aside, the fact that child molestation has been linked to psychological damage statistically, has little bearing on whether it is a cliche or not. A concept becomes a cliche if it is overused; repeated. Whether it is truthful or not, that really has no bearing on it.

[Josh]

Just got back from Mystic River... goddamn am I depressed.

[Evil Dead Junkie]

But Did you like it?

[Josh]

I'm still thinking about it. I plan to start actually writing in a couple of hours...

but overall yes I like it. It certainly isn't in my year's top ten or anything, but it was worth seeing.

It strikes me as the sort of movie you see once and enjoy, mabye you are even touched by it, maybe it is even memorable, but then never ever want to see again.

[Matt]

I kinda feel the same way about Frailty. Good movie, disturbingly good, yet, I have no interest in ever seeing it again.

[Josh]

I can see why you'd say that... it is just too disturbing to WANT repeat viewings. But in the case of Frailty I like watching it over and over because there are so many little nuances to it that you get with each viewing.

Mystic River doesn't seem to have that to it... it is just out and out depressing. It is a fairly good movie, but it is not an enjoyable experience.

[Evil Dead Junkie]

I can see your point Hobbit and for the record I own and love Frailty. But Mystic River for me is such a stunningly hypnotic example of a master filmaker at the height of his power that I can't just walk away from it.

For me its sorta like Taxi Driver. Sure when you break it down to its basics its 2 hours spent in a moral sewer, but what an awesome Moral Sewer.

[Josh]

Ok, I've thought about it, and here's my deal with Mystic River:

I like movies with unhappy or amibigous endings. I like dark movies, and bleak movies, and sad movies, and movies without hope. But Mystic River is SO bleak and SO empty that it sucks the life right out of you and makes you so miserable and its characters SO miserable that the movie itself is simply impossible to enjoy or take anything worth remembering from. It is a GOOD movie, but also one that you'll try to forget as soon as you finish watching it so that the sheer depression it generates inside you doesn't drive you to total suicide.

It takes talent to elict that kind of response from someone, but there is also no way in hell I can say without reservation that everyone ought to go watch it either.

[Josh]

You can read my Mystic River review... it isn't quite finished, but it is <A HREF=http://www.filmhobbit.com/cgi-bin/movies/movies.cgi?action=showreview&review=mysticriver>HERE</A>

[Cogito]

Good review, but one thing that I am still struggling with, about this movie is -- what was its purpose?

All good stories have a purpose -- or more than one, of course.

The story obviously shows us that vigilanteism is wrong. But something else that I got out of this, that it seems I have run into in several other stories recently, is the issue of a woman's lack of faith, or trust in her husband. Jimmy's wife is clearly a Machievellian, Lady Macbeth-like character, when she tells him that he had done the right thing, even if he'd killed the wrong guy, because what kind of woman would say that about her husband anyways?

Woe to him that sows distress in his own house -- there's a bible quote on that. I know this sounds a little like "stand by your man" and all that, but it seems as if this is one of the points that the movie is making, harsh as it may sound.

Of course, a great story is one that leave people with a wide range of impressions, so you may have gotten an entirely different one :)

[Evil Dead Junkie]

I don't think this film is trying to carry a message or even a theme. I think its just trying to be slice of life. Albietly the darkest slice of life you've ever ****ing seen.

But to me its just like Taxi Driver, a dive into the abyss without particular rhyme or reason but ten movies worth of expirence.

If I had to pin what the film was about though I'd say it has the same central theme as Unforgiven, how Violence erodes the souls of both those who commit it and those who it is committed against.

[Josh]

I really just don't get the thing with the wife at the end. It doesn't fit anything else that happens in the movie... it doesn't have a damn thing to do with anything and it doesn't even seem in character with what little we've seen of the guy's wife.

It's just out of nowhere.

[Matt]

I just got in from seeing this. Great acting. I'm at the moment disturbed by it all. Seriously, I'm going to lay down in my daughter's bed and hold her for awhile. Jesus I seriously couldn't focus too long right after they knew she was missing. I just couldn't live with that happening to my daughters..


And I also had the "where did that come from" thinking of the wife. I see what Cogs is talking about but I also see how Hobbit could say it doesn't fit in with the rest of the flick.

Still one of the best movies of the year though. I just never want to see it again.

G'night...I'm going to lay down with my daughter now!

[Josh]

I just can't bring myself to rate something I never want to see again very high. Maybe the movie is good, but if you have no desire ever to see or think about it again, something is wrong there.