Mystic River

This is a story of three boys who have grown up on the north side of Boston’s Mystic river. When they were kids, they were caught defacing cement by a man who abducted one of them, and placed him in a cellar to be repeatedly molested.

30 years later we see where and how they have landed. Dave (Tim Robbins, Cadillac Man), the one who was abducted, is married with a kid, and daily tries to forget the pain of his past. Jimmy (Shawn Penn, I am Sam), is a turned straight hoodlum with a family and a store, and a 19 year old daughter of ominous portent. Sean (Kevin Bacon, A Few Good Men) is a police detective who happens to get the call when Jimmy’s daughter turns up dead after a night on the town. He along with his partner (Laurence Fischburn, Boys in the Hood) are determined to unwind the mystery before Jimmy and his brother-in-laws take vigilante justice.

The way that the story envelopes these three men, and really the entire community, and buries much of the past while revealing a great deal about the character of each man is a very good trademark of director Clint Eastwood (Dir. Million Dollar Baby) and shows the sickness that lies within men’s hearts…the need for salvation, even if one can overcome the world’s societal norms.

It’s a brilliant and tragic story of love gone wrong and hate stirred to a frenzy, mixed with the Boston backdrop, and served on the rocks. Brilliant 2, encore.