Mystic River

[Pedro]

If this takes any oscar home...I'll quit believing in the validity of the oscars! (again)

not even acting?!

[samsong]

I guess I'm the only one here that really loved this movie and praise it the same way critics seem to be.  At least everyone agrees that the acting is excellent but what's wrong with the story.  So it's genre.  I personally think that if anything it amplifies the emotions and themes the film is trying to convey.  Having said that I firmly believe that realism in cinema is an overrated concept and given too much credit.  Genre makes those lines blurier and can get away with more.  In making the film partially genre (in this case, murder/mystery and some wonderful noir undertones) it creates in itself a different logic and reality that as an activie participant of watching a film, we must adhere to in going through the film with the characters.  And I say must because that is the director's intention made heavily clear by the broad, brave strokes that he takes.  Eastwood's direction is very patient but extremely surehanded and confident.  

As much as I think realism is an overrated concept (since cinema is essentially artifice and I believe it to be both an art and a religion.. of sorts) I think plot is as well.  I think Kill Bill proved that this year; how the story's told over what the story is.  Eastwood tells it extremely well with a overpowering force and like I said earlier confidence that few filmmakers exhibit in contemporary cinema.  Where most directors hide themselves with style and innovations, Eastwood is an older and wiser dog who knows few tricks but can kick just about any of their asses.  This is pure filmmaking and brilliant storytelling, fueled by incredible performances and operatic emotions.  What I loved most though was that in the midst of all that already goes on in the film on the surface, underneath is a scathing character study that was subtle and beautifully (and i can't emphasize that enough) masked in all the cinematic elements it already has going for it.  In that sense it reminded me of the films of the man you see in my avatar (Nicholas Ray for those who don't know).  As for the resolution of the film being like that of a "bad crime novel" all I can say is that at least the film builds to a climax (which was one of the best scenes of the year) and though it does take some explaining it works out.  It doesn't bend logic too far nor does it insult the audience because "the killer" has been away for so long but was established enough throughout the movie.  BUT, at the same time, we see the predictable killer being "brought to justice" at the same time which makes it absolutely devastating.  In that town, Tim Robbin's character is the only humane one and he is about to die for for a crime we as the audience knows he didn't commit, bringing out a very simple yet enormously effecting irony of the situation.  There is a simplicity in the way Mystic River is conveyed that is taken for granted... we're not talking the succinctness of De Sica or Bresson, or minimalism in any way.  At work here is a classic form of movie storytelling and I loved every fucking minute of it, as banal as it was.  The one large problem I had though was the epilogue, which did eventually grow into what is one of the film's most powerful scenes but starts out feeling superfluous, which I guess can be added into your guys' complaints about the film not knowing where to end.  Regardless this film was quite an experience... at least for me.  Number three on my list for the year so far.

I'll wait for all the counterpoints all of you will inevitably have for me, but this is one of the year's very best.  Flawed, yes, but it is by now means "overrated" (though that's really up to the person) because the praise its been given is warranted.  Mystic River is one of the hardest hitting, no bullshit films to be released in a while.  And by no bullshit I mean it doesn't jump through the hoops that most movies do these days.  It sees no need to dress itself in crowd-pleasing aesthetic or fit the demands of modern audiences.  It just is.  And for it I appreciate and love it.

I guess I felt compelled to stand up for it.

[SHAFTR]

I would love to see Eastwood receive an Oscar for direction.  The actors deserve nominations as well.  The story is solid as well.  The script is what really drags the film down, especially the ending.

[Gamblour.]

If this takes any oscar home...I'll quit believing in the validity of the oscars! (again)

not even acting?!

Ok...maybe Sean Penn.

[soixante]

I've only seen it once, but I keep thinking about Mystic River, and it grows on me.    Eastwood loves helicopter shots, and his use of them in Mystic River adds to the sense of inevitable fate that swallows up all the characters.  I was wondering why he kept using helicopter views of Boston, until the powerful moment when Sean Penn realizes his daughter has been killed, as he's restrained by a dozen police officers, and the camera pulls up and views everything from above -- a God's eye view that detaches us from the everyday, viewing events from Olympian heights.  Eastwood the director has reached a new level of serene watchfulness and resignation about human nature that often accompanies the maturation process.

As for the parade at the end, some critic pointed out that it was a commentary on flag-waving self-congratulatory ceremonies which are prevalent in American life -- such as a big parade in Hollywood that I attended in 1991 to celebrate the end of the first Gulf War.  America loves parades, but what are we really celebrating?

[Finn]

I love the gun shot Kevin Bacon makes with his hand at the very end.

[NEON MERCURY]

Bogart says..:it would be much more dramatic if bacon would say 'here's lookinng at you kid'.....during that final scene....

[meatball]

I'm going to go see this right now, so I'm bumping this back up into the current (March) from two months prior (January). I'll be back with my post-Mystic River thoughts.

Can't believe you guys have let this thread just dry up.

[picolas]

have a good double post.

[meatball]

Okay, maybe this thread is doomed, but I'll throw in my two cents.

I liked Mystic River. It was solid. Very solid. Story, acting, direction. All solid. But I felt like it didn't go all the way. As if it could take one more step, and that one step could have really made this a great, great movie.

[Pedro]

But I felt like it didn't go all the way. As if it could take one more step, and that one step could have really made this a great, great movie.

that step being?

[Ghostboy]

I thought that step was the last scene between Linney and Penn, which rocked my world.

[modage]

i think that step could've been Clint shooting the film in 3D.  or maybe robbins could've ripped off his mask at the end and it would've been tom cruise from mission impossible and the whole thing was a sting operation.

[NEON MERCURY]

.i think the next step should be that morpheus takes off his "investigator costume" and reveals to sean penn that he is in the matrix and that his daughter really is safe aboard the nebakanezrah....

sample dialogue:

morpheus:  "the metaphysical diameter previals though the workings of the macabre henceforth"

penn: "where is my daughter?!??!?!?!?!?"

morpheus: "to ask fully cast the question through the paralell uniform thus annexing zion"

penn:" is that MY DAUGHTER?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!"

morpheus: "you are in the matrix ..your daughter is safe behold the clarvoiant feelings that trap manifested selections or behold thy fall"

penn"::spicoli:: AWESOME DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[brockly]

i was spose to see this last night but they closed the late session at the last minute without giving a fuckng reason. i was pissed! i am no longer a clint eastwood fan.