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Mystic River
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USA, 2003. Rated R. 137 minutes.
Cast:
Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden,
Laura Linney, Kevin Chapman, Adam Nelson, Emmy Rossum, Cameron Bowen,
Spencer Treat Clark, Eli Wallach (uncredited)
Writer: Brian Helgeland, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane
Original Music: Clint Eastwood, Lennie Niehaus
Cinematography: Tom Stern
Producers: Clint Eastwood, Judie Hoyt, Robert Lorenz
Director: Clint Eastwood
LINKS
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"We bury our sins; we wash them clean"
—Mystic River tagline
eaving
aside the mixed metaphor, the tagline brings to mind enduring themes of justice,
retribution, and damnation. Like many of director Clint Eastwood's best pictures
(Unforgiven,
High Plains Drifter), Mystic
River has a timeless, Old Testament quality. Because of his understated
style and minimalist approach, Eastwood is the right man for this kind of material.
He has served up some mediocre films over the years (The Rookie, Absolute
Power), but when he gets his hands on a first-rate story, he knows how to
let it breathe.
The trio of childhood friends, Jimmy, Sean, and Dave (played as adults by Sean
Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins, respectively) are linked, but not just by
their lifelong friendship. Like a Hindu deity, they are almost three aspects
of the same Universal Man. They attempt to serve those functions traditionally
expected of men by society, acting as patriarchs, protectors, and lovers. However,
one of these men has been compromised by a traumatic event, scarring the friendship
of all three. As adults, they have followed different paths.
In the film's opening scene, the child Dave is taken away from the others in
a car by a molester posing as a police officer. The children's interactions
and their reactions to the supposed policeman deftly sketch their personalities.
Jimmy, the instigator of their escapades, is the rebellious, defiant one—as
an adult, he will make his own rules rather than kow-towing to someone else's.
Sean, who opposes Jimmy's idea of going for a joy ride, is the straight, moral
one—as an adult, he will enforce society's rules. Dave, who goes along
with the prevailing winds, is the weakest of the three, the rule-follower, and
the one picked by the perceptive molester to be his victim. His adult life will
be defined by his ability to live within other people's rules.
Laura Linney and Sean Penn sit in church in Mystic River |
Jimmy is a powerful man in his neighborhood, a former crime ringleader still
commanding the unquestioning loyalty of his wife's brothers Val and Nick Savage
(Kevin Chapman and Adam Nelson), even though he has been making an honest living
for several years. Sean is on the opposite side of the law, a detective with
the Massachusetts State Police assigned to investigate a murder in Jimmy's neighborhood,
the victim of which turns out to be Jimmy's daughter Katie (Emmy Rossum of Passionada).
In contrast to these strong men, Dave has grown up to be a loner, a haunted,
enigmatic man living on the fringes of society, incapable of connecting emotionally
with his wife Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden) and child. Instead, like a vampire
(one of the film's motifs), he walks the streets at night to get away from his
demons. For this and other reasons, Jimmy comes to believe that Dave might be
Katie's killer, and Sean's partner Whitey (Laurence Fishburne) also has suspicions.
The men of Mystic River, especially Jimmy, are old-school men. They
take justice into their own hands and provide their own law. They create order
within their spheres of influence and protect their families at all costs. In
one of the film's final scenes, Jimmy's wife Annabeth (Laura Linney), gives
a bone-chilling monologue affirming the role Jimmy has chosen for himself, and
the idea that a man must do what a man must do—no matter what. For her
cousin Celeste, Annabeth has nothing but scorn, because Celeste shares her fears
and suspicions with Jimmy, instead of standing by her man—no matter what.
The acting is excellent across the board. Though Mystic River is not
ultimately about Jimmy's journey, the film belongs to Penn. Typically, Penn
needs a strong director to reign in his instinct to chew the scenery—without
a forceful hand, you get Hurlyburly and She's So Lovely. Eastwood,
a noted laissez-faire director, seems like a bad choice to direct Penn, but
he is also known for refusing to shoot more than two or three takes of any one
shot. Perhaps that provided the structure Penn needs. While restrained and internal
throughout most of the film, Penn displays both chilling intensity and heart-wrenching
grief when it really counts. He should earn yet another Oscar nomination for
Mystic River, and it's about time he won one. Penn has often cited Robert
De Niro as a strong influence; rarely has it been more apparent than in Mystic
River. The performance compares to De Niro's finest work.
Penn outshines Bacon and Robbins without overshadowing them, however. It's
not quite right to say that Robbins brings to life the withered, emotionally
broken Dave within his tall, gangly frame, because Dave is dead on many levels
from the moment he gets into the molester's car as a boy. Let's just say that
although it would have been intuitive to cast a less imposing actor, Robbins
embodies Dave near-perfectly (it's worth noting that in the book Dave is also
a huge guy, as a sort of visual contradiction to his demeanor). As for Bacon,
he has flirted with becoming a Serious Actor on many occasions. His steady,
assured performance in Mystic River should seal the deal. Fishburne,
Linney, and Harden are equally solid in the supporting roles.
Mystic River concerns a murder and the hunt for a killer, but it is
not a thriller, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. Certainly,
Mystic River has its share of plot coincidences and near-contrivances,
but thanks to Eastwood, the film never comes off like it's trying to be clever.
Eastwood does not seem particularly concerned with whether you can foresee what
comes to pass (you can). Like in an Old Testament tale, there is a sense of
inevitability about what happens in Mystic River. That's because the
story's developments are emotionally and thematically organic to the film, rather
than gratuitous twists designed purely to surprise. Mystic River is not
about who-done-what, but, much like In the
Bedroom, about why who-done-what, and what that reveals about
all of us, as human beings.
Review
© October 2003 by AboutFilm.Com and the author.
Images © 2003 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved.
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