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He's still connected to Jimmy as his wife, Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden, "Casa de los Babys"), is Jimmy's second wife Annabeth's (Laura Linney, "The Mothman Prophecies") cousin. Dave the adult is a troubled man with a young boy of his own. As with Katie's murder, the horror Dave endures isn't shown but implied, with one quick shot of a looming shadow entering a basement and flashes of Dave's escape flight through the woods. Dave, the only one of the trio who doesn't live on the street they're standing on, is bullied into the back of the car just as he and the other two begin sensing that something isn't right about these guys. Just as Dave, the third, is about to scratch out a 'v,' a black car approaches with two men, one of whom gets out, flashes a badge, and begins questioning the kids about destroying municipal property and where they live. Straight arrow Sean and malleable Dave won't go along with Jimmy's idea of 'borrowing' a car, so he uses a stick to write his name in wet cement instead. It is one of those rare films that surpasses the impact of the book. Brian Helgeland's ("A Knight's Tale") adaptation of David Lehane's novel is true to the source, yet Eastwood and his perfectly cast ensemble have added layers that give this blue collar multi-generational tragedy Shakespearean scope. It is available on HBO Max, Xfinity OnDemand, YouTube, Google Play, AppleTV and Vudu.Ĭhris Morelli is a staff reporter for The Express.Clint Eastwood may be adding another Oscar to his shelf this year if "The Lord of the Rings" juggernaut doesn't swamp his richly textured, dark film. “Mystic River” is rated R for adult language, adult themes and graphic violence.
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It didn’t win for Best Picture, but it easily could have. Eastwood isn’t big on happy endings and “Mystic River” doesn’t have one. As he always does, he is a master at telling a tale. “Mystic River” was directed by Clint Eastwood. Penn won for Best Actor and Robbins won for Best Supporting Actor, but it could easily have been flipped. Boston is the perfect setting.īoth Penn and Robbins won Oscars for their performances. “Mystic River” is based on a novel and while it’s complete fiction, the story seems very believable. There are also a couple of notable performances from Marcia Gay Harden as Dave’s wife, Celeste, and Laura Linney as Jimmy’s wife, Annabeth. His pain is palpable.īacon has a lesser role as Sean, but he’s solid as always. You feel his grief as he mourns the loss of his teenage daughter. Penn delivers a performance for the ages as Jimmy. He certainly doesn’t seem like a killer, but could his ordeal have pushed him to commit such a horrible crime? He really pulls off the sad-sack demeanor. Why did he get into the car? What happened to him during those horrible four days? Did he actually murder, Jimmy’s daughter? Robbins is at his best here. The plots twists and turns, especially when police learn that Dave was in the bar where Katie was last seen.
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Sean investigates the crime and Jimmy begins his own search for the killer. It turns out that Katie has been brutally murdered. When she doesn’t show up at work or church the next day, alarms go off. One night, Jimmy’s 19-year-old daughter Katie (Emmy Rossum) goes out for a night on the town. Jimmy (Penn) is an ex-con who runs a corner market. Dave (Robbins) is a blue collar guy who still struggles with what happened in his youth. Sean (Bacon) is a detective with the Massachusetts State Police. The boys are grown and still live in Boston, though they have drifted apart. He is abducted and sexually abused for four days.įlash forward 25 years later. When he spots a dirty floor and realizes he is not in a police cruiser, panic sets in. They tell Dave to get in the car and he does. One man flashes some handcuffs and pretends to be a police officer. Two men pull up and begin berating the boys for destroying the property. As young boys often do, they get a little mischievous and begin scratching their names into the cement with a stick. They quickly get bored with hockey and turn their attention to a piece of wet cement. When the film opens, three boys - Jimmy Markum, Sean Devine and Dave Boyle - are playing hockey on a Boston street in 1975.