Mystic River (2003)

The novels of Dennis Lehane are prime for film adaptation, and indeed there have been plenty of them recently. Ben Affleck especially, is a big Lehane fan; he’s adapted and directed both Gone Baby Gone (2007) and Live By Night (2016). Even Scorsese has got in on the act, with 2010’s Shutter Island. The first man to adapt Lehane for the screen however was Clint Eastwood, back in 2003. A star-studded group of childhood friends (Kevin Bacon as Sean, Tim Robbins as Dave, Sean Penn as Jimmy) are linked once more twenty-five years on as the murder of Jimmy’s daughter draws them all together in their home city of Boston. Mystic River opens with a haunting sequence, which ends in Dave being abducted (we subsequently find out he was held captive and abused for four days before escaping). Fast-forward twenty five years and despite being married and having a young son, Dave his clearly still troubled by his past. His former friends have moved on in very different ways; Jimmy is now an ex-convict running a convenience store, and Sean is a detective. Shortly after the murder of Jimmy’s daughter Katie, Dave becomes a suspect as he can’t account for his whereabouts at the time of her death; possibly because he was involved in something else that he doesn’t want the police to know about, or possibly not. Mystic River is expertly directed as you might expect, and its low key, no frills approach to the subject matter keeps the tone consistently grim, and as a result, gripping and enthralling. The unsinkable cast list justifies its star quality entirely; Bacon, Penn and Robbins are all superb, and have excellent support from the likes of Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Hardon and Laura Linney. Eastwood has made plenty of excellent films across his astonishing career (he’s ninety two and still working) but this is up there with his finest. 8.0/10