Mystic River, 2003

Mystic River, 2003
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Tim Robbins, Laura Linney, Laurence Fishburne



Stage: Home theatre, late Saturday night


Mystic River in short: Childhood friends Jimmy Markum, Sean Devine and Dave Boyle reunite following the death of Jimmy's oldest daughter, Katie. Sean's a police detective on the case, gathering difficult and disturbing evidence; he's also tasked with handling Jimmy's rage and need for retribution.



Preps: None in perticular. Clint is the man. Don't need any special intro.


Reality: One of the better ones in his biography. Speaking about Eastwood. Plus, Penn got an oscar for his performance. It is as I always claim, strong story makes the movie. Marry it to a great director, hence success. In this case, I am speaking about a devastating touching story about past events that can haunt you from the childhood on and catch up later, when you think you have seen it all. It is a movie about friendship that can last an eternity, yet get broken in an instance if the right button is pushed - in this sense the death of a daughter of a part of a great friendship.
You feel they get reunited, yet they find out the barriers that are driving them apart. You see how their lives turned out and try to imagine how would it have been if they haven't been faced with a such trauma when they were eleven. The movie makes you think about all the individuals that were submerged to any kind of violence and the consequences they needed to face, at that age, or much later. And how many of those ended up in institutions? The stars know..
Eastwood knit a spectacular out of a sad story and I am in it up to my toes. The chill ends in my veins when a friend murders a friend and finds out he made a mistake. The irony in one of the last scenes is the last nail in my coffin. I am surrounded in sadness, depression and hardness of the moment. The blood spilt in vain is running in my blood stream as well and I am really touched by scenes with such a terror in the eyes. Penn and Bacon are brilliant, also Tim Robbins. The cast is supreme, the scenario is brilliant, the director exceeds every last bit of my expectations. I love the movie.


My personal rating: 9,0 (beautiful, touching, filled with emotions. A must see).


Mystic river on IMDB