Review of Mystic River (2003) by Aditya P — 28 Dec 2011

A film about the after-effects of child abuse. The film tells the story of three boys: Jimmy Markum, Sean Devine and Dave Boyle. One day while they are playing hockey, some men show up pretending to be cops and capture Dave and sexually abuse him for four days until he escapes. 25 years later the boys are now grown. Dave is a blue-collar worker, still haunted by his abduction. Sean is a cop whom has troubles with his wife and Jimmy is an ex-con trying to get his life back together until the murder of his own daughter. Can the three friends find reconciliation through this tragedy?

The film is an excellent analysis of child abuse and how that is leaves you for the rest of your life. I also love the symbolism used in this movie, on the recent Clint Eastwood movies he uses Christianity as a symbol, in this movie he uses of how people hide their sins and crimes through Christianity. Especially Jimmy going to church and yet he is a criminal. The performances of this movie were the best thing of this movie, Sean Penn as Jimmy Markum is one of the most memorable performances I have seen. One of the most memorable scenes in the movie is when Jimmy goes to the crime scene and he screams out to God because of the death of his doter, that performance really blow you away because it got you emotionally attached to the character, even do you know he is a bad guy. Another great performance was Tim Robbins as Dave Boyle, the guy whom basically is in pain through the flashbacks of his life. I loved how Dave talked to his wife that pedophiles were like vampires that it stays in you for the rest of your life. To me the movie was like a mystery movie, finding out whom did what? Who's the killer? It also deals with the importance of friendship, how loyal are you goanna be with your friends, even do they might have done something wrong. Will you trust an old friend, even do he might be guilty of a crime? Will you see your friend the same way you saw him before? What I also enjoy about his movie is character development with Dave's character as he tries to overcome that terrible experience. The screenplay of this movie, for most part of the movie worked. The cinematography of this movie was good, because it captured what the characters were going through. The soundtrack of the movie was also decent and likeable.

What I didn't like about the movie was the third character of this movie: Sean Devine. Not that his performance was bad, it's just there's nothing interesting about this guy and the character doesn't do much in this movie. There's a subplot on this movie in which his wife leaves him, for no apparent reason, she calls him but she never says anything, and then at the end of the movie she comes back with no apparent reason or explanation. As I see this, I was always asking myself, what does this subplot have to do with the main plot of the film? I mean the rest of the subplots support of the main plot of the movie, but this subplot doesn't not deal with anything in the movie. At the end of the movie, of Jimmy killing an innocent person and how his wife responds to me is was anti-climatic and unrealistic.

The film was directed and produced by Clint Eastwood. The film was based on Dennis Lehane's novel of the same name. The film opened to widespread critical acclaim. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor. Sean Penn won Best Actor and Tim Robbins won Best Supporting Actor, making Mystic River the first film to win both awards since Ben-Hur in 1959.

I recommend this movie to people those love/family dramas, because is one of those movies that show you the value of family and how it goes beyond friendship. If you like mystery films that make you think whom done what. If you are a fan of Clint Eastwood then you should watch this movie. The film I think is appropriate to teenagers and up. If you don't like drama movies then don't watch this movie. If you are looking for a film that deals with the importance of friendship and trust, then I recommend you this movie.