The Oscars have come and gone. And those who have been waiting to know what the world thinks are the best of the year, will now rush to the theatres to get themselves acquainted with them. As I did. Mystic River was one of the much-nominated films this year, and even managed to grab awards in the two male acting categories. Deservedly so, because both Sean Penn and Tim Robbins have delivered superlative performances, such that I did not really mind missing the last train home for.
The movie follows the events occurring over a few days in the lives of Jimmy Markum, Sean Devine, and David Boyle, three childhood pals, who drift apart over the years, and are brought back together by the death of Jimmy’s daughter, Katie. As kids in small-town Boston, their last interaction as pals ends tragically as Dave is kidnapped, held for four days before he manages to escape.
Though the truth is never revealed, everyone suspects that young Dave has been sexually abused. Things are never the same between the boys, and each goes his separate way. Jimmy treads the path of small-time crime, does the rounds of the local jails, and appears to have reformed his life. He dotes on his wife, and three daughters, and seems to be the model citizen, despite the murky past.
Sean joins the police force, a homicide detective no less. His personal life is reduced to receiving calls from a wife who has left him for reasons unclear. Only Devine speaks in these calls as the wife maintains a studious silence. Dave drifts into nothingness, has a wife and a son, who love him, but is socially challenged, and can’t hold a job for too long.
And one fine day, Jimmy’s eldest daughter is found dead, beaten and shot seemingly without reason. The case is investigated by Sean and his partner, who find the going tough as evidence points to the old friend Dave. Sean also has to contend with a vengeful Jimmy and his friends, the Savage brothers, who want to apply their own brand of justice to the murderer. The film then makes its way through the entwined lives of the 3 men, their links to the past, the track that their lives took to get them to where they are now. As the cops dig deeper, the truth emerges, revealing layers of emotions, the conflict of ideals versus experience, the story of innocence lost - and never regained.
This is a fine film, handled with a lot of sensitivity. It is not a typical murder mystery/drama, with more emphasis placed on the human element than the situation itself. Clint Eastwood manages to create a murky environ for his small town backdrop. The mood is blue throughout, and Tom Stern’s photography and Brian Helgeland’s screenplay contribute equally to complete the disturbed, dark look to the film. Eastwood’s strength has always been in his building up of his main characters, and in his own style of understated elegance. As with his highly under-rated acting roles, Eastwood brings his message across in his quiet simple undemonstrative manner.
If this film can be faulted, it would be for its absolute letdown of an ending. It seems like Eastwood was trying to make a statement, but I’m not sure I got it. Part contrived (Sean’s reunion with his wife), part sensational (jimmy’s wife absolving him of murder with a weird justification), the climax will be discussed for some time to come. Eastwood may have tried to make a statement on destiny’s role in defining human character, but...it somehow doesn’t stick.
The strength of the characters comes from some powerful performances. Penn as Jimmy is brilliant, as are Marcia Gay Harden and Lawrence Fishburne as Celeste Boyle, Dave’s wife, and Whitey Powers, Sean’s detective partner. Kevin Bacon is suitably tight-lipped as Sean Devine, the cop with conflicting interests, and Laura Linney in the truncated role of Jimmy’s wife Annabeth passes muster, despite or inspite of the weird tilt her character gets at the very end of the movie.
The performance of the movie however is dished out by Tim Robbins as the tortured Dave. His deep, brooding portrayal of a man trying to come to terms with his past, hobbling his way through life, attempting to live his childhood through his son, aspiring of a life that never was. Robbins carries off the role so well you can actually see his huge frame buckling under the burden of the memory of that fateful day of the past. You sympathise and yet you wonder if the shame was potent enough to manifest itself into something more sinister. Whether it is enough to drive him to snuff out a life full of promise, to compensate for one that was snatched from him.
I don’t know if it was because of my high expectations from the movie, but my feelings at the end of the movie were mixed. Possibly because of the botched climax, but also because in the overall standpoint, there wasn’t anything in the plot that would force you to exercise the discerning part of your brain. The pace is unhurried, and even though there are plenty of scenes to die for, this isn’t like any traditional whodunit. Neither does it qualify as serious thinking cinema. It falls somewhere in between, as it does in terms of its quality of film-watching experience. Not sure it deserved nominations for best film and director. But then, not many of the other nominees did.
So, all in all a good film, which with some added substance and a more coherent end could have been a great film. An admirable effort, though, and one that deserves its share of accolades.