Even
for Hollywood, which tends to specialize in the offbeat and bizarre, Clint
Eastwood’s career has followed a rather unusual pattern. After several years
playing minor film roles and a longish stint in a television Western series, he
journeyed to Europe, where many American actors go to work after they die, but
unlike many of his compatriots, returned triumphantly as the compelling,
enigmatic hero of some memorable spaghetti Westerns.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย While continuing to ride the dusty
trails and tame the wild towns, he also starred in some important cop flicks
and crime thrillers. He survived hundreds of bullets, as well as the deadly
attacks of the powerful and idiosyncratic Pauline Kael, queen of reviewers,
eventually becoming the figure we all know, one of the great international
cinema icons of our time.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย After writing, directing, producing,
and acting in a great many motion pictures, and running the company that makes
those pictures, Eastwood remains one of the few contemporary directors who
truly deserves that overused, abused, and much misunderstood appellation of
auteur. In addition to his inclination, as actor and director, toward the more
violent genres, he takes risks with other sorts of films, undaunted by such
failures as Bronco Billy, Bird, and The Bridges of Madison County. With his new movie, Mystic River, Eastwood attempts
something quite different from his work in the past, a bleak and gloomy
meditation on tragedy and guilt masquerading as a murder mystery.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The picture, which adheres closely
to the original novel, explores the lives of three men, childhood friends who
have drifted apart, in a working-class neighborhood in Boston. One of the
three, a detective named Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon), returns to the neighborhood
to investigate the murder of the daughter of another of the trio, Jimmy Markum
(Sean Penn), owner of a convenience store and small-time mobster. One of the
suspects is the third man, Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins). Although the central
mystery and the police investigation proceed in a familiar and orthodox manner,
arriving at an acceptable conclusion, they really exist in order to provide the
means for another sort of inquiry, the exhumation of a past that shapes the
lives of all three men.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The pattern of their present lives
begins in an incident from their shared childhood, when two men bully the three
boys and kidnap and molest Dave. That crime opens the movie and recurs in
flashbacks and memory throughout, linking them all in pain and shame. The two
survivors are haunted by the knowledge that they simply watched the men drive
off with the frightened child, and aware that they could themselves have been
in his place. Dave himself has understandably been emotionally crippled by the
crime, which governs his behavior throughout the movie.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Sean Penn’s character reacts to the
devastating loss of his beloved daughter with an investigation of his own,
assisted by a couple of his cohorts, which he plans to conclude by punishing
the murderer himself. He and Bacon work along parallel lines, both suspecting
the same man, but both misinterpreting the evidence they uncover. Since Penn
and his thugs feel no need to obey any particular rules, they can more
efficiently harass their quarry and coerce a confession from him. The audience
cannot know the truth of the event, so must for a while trust the methods of
both men and arrive at the same incorrect and tragic conclusions.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Despite its solid and relatively
satisfying mystery, Mystic River really confronts another sort of puzzle, the insoluble persistence of grief and
guilt, which makes everyone both victim and criminal. Although all the
characters reach the solution to the central mystery, they find no resolution
in their own lives, only a sense of pain and loss. The extraordinary
performances of the principals capture the complexity of their condition, in
which all the characters come to an inarticulate recognition of their
permanently blighted future.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The movie demonstrates Eastwood’s
ability to direct actors as well as action. Though Sean Penn’s intense and
complicated portrayal of grief, anger, and cold hatred dominates a good deal of
the picture, the director gives each actor his own major scene and a number of
powerfully affective moments. Tim Robbins’s hesitant, nervous manner suggests
the inner pain of a man suffering over and over the trauma of a terrible violation
and betrayal, the victim’s sense of shame, the loss of a childhood he
constantly seeks to recapture.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Perhaps lost in the remarkable
performances of the three major characters, the supporting cast, especially
Laura Linney and Marcia Gay Harden as Penn’s and Robbins’s wives, creates a
credible emotional context. In a bleakly ironic sequence concluding the
picture, Harden suggests through some simple facial expressions the full impact
of the whole tragic story, in which no hint of hope seems possible, only loss
and sorrow. Her last moments reflect the rich, understated eloquence of a
remarkable and heartbreaking film, a triumph for its cast and its director.
Mystic River, starring Sean Penn, Tim
Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Laura Linney, Marcia Gay Harden,
Kevin Chapman, Adam Nelson, Thomas Guiry, Emmy Rossum, Spencer Treat Clark;
based on the novel by Dennis Lehane; screenplay by Brian Helgeland; directed by
Clint Eastwood. Cinemark Tinseltown; Hoyts Greece Ridge; Pittsford Plaza
Cinema; Regal Eastview; Regal Henrietta.
You
can hear George and his movie reviews on WXXI-FM 91.5 Fridays at 7:20 a.m.,
rerun on Saturdays at 8:50 a.m.
This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2003.
