‘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.

‘Texas Chainsaw’ not a massacre of original

I’m not a big fan of horror remakes. Typically remakes and sequels

lack the originality and flair of the first movie. I expected the new

version of the horror classic, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” to be a

lame remake and a boring gore flick. I was wrong. This one is the

real deal. I’ve never heard a movie audience scream so frequently and

so loud. This movie is way too much fun to be legal.

The new version of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” isn’t really a remake

of the 1974 classic. The new buzzword “re-imagining” is a better fit.

Both the original and the new version share the same basic structure.

There’s a microbus full of stupid kids and a happy-go-lucky maniac

with a chainsaw. Aside from that, the new version is a completely

different movie than its predecessor. It has different characters, a

different story, and brings its own scares.

Here’s a little bit of movie trivia. The original opens with the

voice of John Larroquette, Dan Fielding from TV’s “Night Court,”

telling us we’re about to see a movie based on true events.

Larroquette came back to narrate the new version. His opening

voice-over plays on top of some fake newsreel footage and once again

tells us we are seeing a story based on fact. Larroquette’s voice is

so serious and so convincing that I wanted to believe this was a true

story -- and I know better!

No, there never was a real guy named Leatherface who killed people

with a chainsaw. Writer/director of the original “Texas Chainsaw

Massacre,” Tobe Hooper, got the idea for the movie when he was

standing in line at Montgomery Ward and saw a display of chainsaws.

The closest thing to a real killer like this is Wisconsin’s favorite

son Ed Gein. Gein committed a couple of murders, but was more of a

grave robber. Digging up bodies (including his mom) and sewing

together skin made him the inspiration for Texas Chainsaw,” “Silence

of the Lambs,” “Psycho” and dozens of other horror flicks.

He may be fictional, but Leatherface (lovingly portrayed by Andrew

Bryniarski) is definitely the star of the show. He’s the guy who uses

a chainsaw to turn people into conceptual art. Jason (“Friday the

13th”) and Michael Myers (“Halloween”) are just feeble rip-offs of

Leatherface. Hockey mask? This guy wears a mask he made from human

skin and that’s not even what makes him terrifying. There’s something

about the sound of a chainsaw that just scares the popcorn out of

you.

Without a doubt the guy who carries this movie is “Mr. Intensity”

-- R. Lee Ermey. He plays Sheriff Hoyt, and he is the law. Ermey

frightens me more than Leatherface. Whenever he does a movie, he

rewrites his character’s lines to give them the right feel. Ermey is

personally responsible for the madness that his characters scream. It

makes you wonder whether he got hugged enough as a kid. He’s a great

actor and can do a lot more than just play sadistic maniacs. Check

out his performance as a grieving father in “Dead Man Walking” to see

what I mean.

Another noteworthy is Jessica Biel (from TV’s “7th Heaven”) as one

of the kids in the van. These kinds of movies are well-known for

their stilted dialog, but Biel makes the dialog work. Her character,

Erin, is empathetic and brings us into the story. The most intense

moments are when we feel her fear. She’s also a great screamer.

The original was made with a budget of about .75 cents. The horror

was mostly left to your imagination, but after I saw it I couldn’t

even think about eating barbecue ribs without getting queasy. The new

“Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is a cleaner production with a larger

budget. The script is less sophisticated, but the scares are

definitely there. I’m not comfortable saying the new version is

better than the original, but this one is certainly a keeper. It’s a

must see if you’re a fan of the genre, or if you own stock in

McCulloch.

* JIM ERWIN, 40, is a technical writer and computer trainer.