Mystic River

12/17/2018

***Evils of the past and the problems with vigilante justice*** Released in 2003 and directed by Clint Eastwood, “Mystic River” tells the story of three men from a working class neighborhood in Boston. While playing in the street as kids, one of them is abducted and sexually abused for days. As adults they’ve drifted apart. Jimmy (Sean Penn) is a reformed con who runs a successful market when his daughter is suddenly murdered (Emmy Rossum). Sean (Kevin Bacon) investigates the murder with his partner, Whitey (Laurence Fishburne), with evidence eventually pointing toward Dave (Timothy Bottoms), the one who was abducted. Marcia Gay Harden plays Dave’s anxious spouse while Laura Linney plays Jimmy’s loyal wife. This is similar in tone & theme to the melancholy “Sleepers” (1996), but less

1/16/2020

Mystic River continuously outflows its poignant crime investigation through a meticulously gritty screenplay. The past haunts us. Experiences and encounters, grossly susceptible and an impressionably young age, returning viciously with psychological detriments. A naive boy that just didn’t know any better. Abducted. An unresolved mystery that manifested itself into an intricately societal Massachusetts neighbourhood, where one disturbance can erupt into a multitude of hatred from the cold concrete beneath them. A father’s daughter mercilessly murdered in the streets that he, and his two ex-friends, played hockey in. Anguish. Guilt. Vengeance. His childhood pals, one assigned the task of searching for the killer and the other forced into battling his own justifications for not murdering

2/8/2022

Excellent! I'm not fully sold on the ending, though it isn't anything less than good either way, but the rest of <em>'Mystic River'</em> is quality. The cast are superb, whether that be the main trio of Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon or the supporting Laurence Fishburne and Marcia Gay Harden. Bacon and Fishburne make for a terrific buddy cop duo, miles better than director Clint Eastwood's attempt with Charlie Sheen in the former's 1990 release <em>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/the-rookie/" rel="nofollow">The Rookie</a>'</em>. The conclusion does I guess go in line with what precedes it, particularly with Robbins' character, but I'm not fully convinced by who is eventually unveiled as you know what. That's not to say it's a bad end, as noted at the top, as it's still

6/30/2026

Clint Eastwood has assembled a really strong cast here for this daring look at just how taboos are dealt with, even now, in 21st century Boston. We begin with three lads messing about with some freshly laid concrete before a police car arrives and forces "Dave" to get in the back. Nobody hears from him for four days and thereafter he is completely silent about what went on and we advance into their adulthood. "Dave" (Tim Robbins) is married to "Celeste" (Marcia Gay Harden); "Sean" (Kevin Bacon) is a cop and "Jimmy" (Sean Penn) runs a store with wife "Annabeth" (Laura Linney). They don't have much to do with each other any more, but that's about to change when "Katie" - the teenage daughter of "Jimmy" is found slain. "Sean" is the lead detective on the case with his partner - the curiously