"Mystic River" is a gut wrenching tale about personal loss and the emotional trauma suffered by three childhood friends after one of them is kidnapped by a child molester in front of the other two. Despite having a wife who loves him and a son who adores him, Dave Boyle still has nightmares about his abductors. His friends grow up on opposite sides of the law. Jimmy Markum becomes a small time local gangster while Sean Devine devotes his life to getting the bad guys. He becomes a homicide detective. Sordid memories and unresolved feelings are dredged up when the fates of the three men merge again when Jimmy’s daughter is senselessly murdered.

‘Mystic River" is being hailed as an unqualified masterwork from director Clint Eastwood since it made its’ premiere at the New York Film Festival this Fall but anyone familiar with "L.A. Confidential" should also be able to recognize the unmistakable imprint of its screenwriter, Brian Helgeland. He knows how to go to the heart of a novel, identify its most compelling moments, and then weave a complex web of relationships to give the story its dramatic thrust. Eastwood has taken Helgeland’ s blueprint and given it a cinematic life that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and rubs your face in the emotions of its characters. He challenges you to feel, think, and react as the they do. Boyle was a good ball player as a kid and is always tossing the ball around with his son like the proud father he is. But when he comes home in the wee hours of the morning covered with blood his wife begins to think his mental problems have pushed him over the edge. Top cop Devine is a guy who put his professional life before his wife’s needs once too often and longs to have her back. Jimmy Markum is a despicable guy, yet it’s impossible not to identify with his unrelenting grief over the death of his daughter.

Information is scattered throughout "Mystic River" like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle for the viewer to piece together. Secondary players come and go and then come back again to fill in gaps. "Mystic River" is a first class murder mystery and a dramatic conundrum. Motivations are sometimes murky, but always human. Grief leads to rage, and rage to revenge, much to the satisfaction of someone you’d least suspect. It’s difficult not to be absorbed into the complex emotional fabric of each and every player, from the boy who loved Jimmy’s daughter to the wives - seen and unseen - of the best friends who are still trying to make some sense out of their splintered lives.

After all is said and done, "Mystic River" may indeed be a masterwork because Clint Eastwood is a master story teller. The direction is invisible, the story compelling, and the acting phenomenal. When Tim Robbins droops his shoulders, lets his jaw hang low and shuffles his feet, you know all you need to know about the emotionally scarred Dave Boyle. Marcia Gay Harden turns Celeste, his uneducated wife, into one of the movie’s most sympathetic creatures, unwise to the ways of the world, and blind to her husband’s true nature. Kevin Bacon is the cool headed Sean Devine, able to separate the cop from the man and his job before his friends. Sean Penn sears the screen with Jimmy Markum’s grief and rage. Laura Linney is the unseen power behind the throne waiting patiently to step out of the shadows and lay claim to her husband’s soul. Able support is supplied by an ensemble of actors that includes Lawrence Fishburne as Sean Devine’s partner and a small bit from Eli Wallach who is remarkably memorable given his short time on screen as a storekeeper who unknowingly holds a key piece of information about the murder weapon.

Given everything that is right with "Mystic River," I have only one quibble. Although the motive for Markum’s revenge is rooted firmly in the story, the cold calculated way he goes about it does no coalesce with the irrationality of his conclusions. The explanation is obliquely inferred by the soothing way his wife later consoles him in the privacy of their bedroom. It is ambiguous at best like many key moments in the movie. In the closing scene, in the midst of a parade, Devine cocks his finger like a gun and points it at Markum and smiles, then Markum fires back with a flick of the finger. Are they friendly gestures that say they’ve killed the past and it’s behind them or is their another story to be told that will pit the two former friends against each other in a contest of wills over the eternal battle of good and evil? It’s a memorable moment.

Copyright 2003

Two crime thrillers, a comedic drama, and a romance - from Clint Eastwood-Director!

"Tightrope" (1985) - Clint plays a hard boiled cop whose personal sexual quirks give him insight into the mind of a sexual predator.

"A Perfect World" (1993) - Clint tales second lead to Kevin Costner who turns in one of his greatest performances as a ruthless killer who takes a young boy hostage and begins to bond with him much to his own surprise. Clint is the Texas Ranger in hot pursuit. Like "Mystic River," the accent is on character.

"Bronco Billy" (1980) - Despite the title, this is not a Western but a modern story about a small time Western tent show. Clint is the sharp shootin’ title character who often has to make personal sacrifices and compromises to his dignity to keep the show going. A confrontation with a local sheriff and the aftermath that is imagined but not seen grounds this one with a sense of reality that is pure Eastwood without diminishing the movie’s fun. One of Clint’s favorites and mine too!

"The Bridges of Madison County" (1995) - A solid weeper about a woman’s unlikely affair with a travelling photographer while her husband is away. Both fall deeply in love but she - the incomparable Meryl Streep - can’t find it in her heart to give up her family. Simple - yes, but emotionally complex.

DIR. CLINT EASTWOOD

SEAN PENN = JIMMY MARKUM

TIM ROBBINS = DAVE BOYLE

KEVIN BACON = SEAN DEVINE

MARCIA GAY HARDEN = CELESTE BOYLE

ANABETH MARKUM = LAURA LINNEY

KATIE - EMMY ROSSUM