‘Mystic River’ best of year so far

VAN NOVACK

It was with great anticipation that I awaited the release of “Mystic

River,” the latest film directed by Clint Eastwood. Even though it

didn’t win the coveted Palme d’Or at last May’s Cannes Film Festival,

the positive “buzz” surrounding this picture has been intense.

Besides the association with Eastwood, “Mystic River” has perhaps the

most stellar cast of any recent film boasting such celebrated actors

as Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia

Gay Harden, and Laura Linney. Between them, the stars of “Mystic

River” have been nominated for seven Academy Awards.

Based on the bestseller by Dennis Lehane, “Mystic River” tells the

story of three boys, now men, from a blue-collar Boston neighborhood.

The men, Jimmy (Penn), Dave (Robbins), and Sean (Bacon), were fast

friends as boys but were all affected in varying degrees by the

abduction and molestation of Dave 25 years ago. Posing as cops, two

men ordered Dave into their car and held him for four days before he

could escape.

Now adults, the men have drifted apart emotionally although not

physically as they are still attached to the old neighborhood. Jimmy,

after serving two years for armed robbery 16 years before, has

settled into the life of husband and father of three girls. Jimmy now

owns a small grocery store in the old neighborhood. Dave is still

there too, but is barely hanging on as a marginally employed

semi-alcoholic handyman who dotes on his young son. Sean is now a

homicide detective but is haunted by his departed wife who calls him

constantly but never says a word.

The three men are brought back together by tragic circumstances.

Jimmy’s 19-year-old daughter, Katie, is brutally murdered. Dave was

one of the last people to see her alive and Sean is investigating her

murder. On the night of Katie’s murder, Dave came home suspiciously

late, bleeding from his stomach and hand, claiming he fought off a

mugger. Even Dave’s wife Celeste (Harden) comes to suspect him of

Katie’s murder as the events have brought his childhood trauma back

to the forefront of his consciousness and he is acting strangely.

Jimmy is absolutely devastated by the murder of his daughter, but

his grief manifests itself in an obsessive desire for murderous

revenge. A race between Jimmy and the cops to find the murderer

begins and the intricate web of past acts and sins linking all the

players soon unfolds.

Clint Eastwood says this film, “is the best I can do.” Despite

directing “Unforgiven,” which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture

and Best Director, “Mystic River” is really his masterpiece. Eastwood

never makes a false move in this film. There is a simplicity and a

realism that a heavy hand could not have achieved. Everything is

perfect, including the locations, clothing, cars and bit players.

Eastwood allows the marvelous cast to give the performances of their

lives. This is especially true of Penn and Robbins who might receive

Best Actor and Best Actress Academy Award nominations.

Not enough can be said of these two performances. When he learns

of his daughter’s murder, Penn is a black hole of grief, the pain

etched on his weathered face and evident in every fiber of his being.

Later Penn realistically morphs into a revenge-seeking killer, all

the more frightening because of the coldness of his resolve. Robbins

changes from the “damaged goods” man-child sleepwalking through

adulthood to a very disturbed man now visibly struggling to maintain

his sanity as long-suppressed demons emerge from his soul.

“Mystic River” is the type of picture you remember long after the

house lights come back on. This film will haunt you and make you

ponder the ironies of seemingly unconnected acts. After opening in

only 13 theaters nationally the first week of its release, “Mystic

River” is now playing at over 1,500 theaters. I heartily suggest you

see this picture so you will fully understand why it will deservedly

receive multiple Academy Award nominations next January. Of the

movies released thus far in 2003, “Mystic River” is undoubtedly the

best picture of the year.

* VAN NOVACK, 50, is the director of institutional research at Cal

State Long Beach and lives in Huntington Beach with his wife

Elizabeth.