6 of 10
Cinematography by Tom Stern
Sean Penn
Tim Robbins
Kevin Bacon
Laurence Fishburne
Marcia Gay Harden
Laura Linney
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| Mystic River 6 of 10 |
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| Directed by Clint Eastwood Cinematography by Tom Stern Sean Penn Tim Robbins Kevin Bacon Laurence Fishburne Marcia Gay Harden Laura Linney |
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| This was easily one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2003, garnering tons of glowing reviews, and a whole handful of Academy nominations and hardware. My first thought on reading the book was that it would be a difficult story to adapt, and the film�s script succeeds only sporadically. There is probably too much reliance on introspection in the book to ever really work on film. But the cast does a fine job with what they are given. Robbins was quite good, although probably not as good as reviews and statuettes would lead one to believe. Both female leads are also strong, especially Harden. (She has never missed, in my opinion.) I also loved the cameo from Conway, and especially the one from Eli Wallach; both uncredited, interestingly enough. All in all, though, I came away from the film with two very strong impressions. First one was that Bacon�s performance was the absolute backbone of the film. Without his character, and without his subtle performance, it would have been a real failure. His storyline was the only one of interest at time, and his chemistry with Fishburne was outstanding. The other thought that came to me while watching the film was that Sean Penn came amazingly close to tearing down this star-studded and impressive cast all by himself. He was absolutely, unequivocally horrible in nearly every scene. He seems unable express his character�s emotions except by making weird, laughable faces. My two year old makes those faces; adults don�t. To be fair, every now and then he does seem to accidentally slip into �normal person� mode, although even then it is only during his scenes with Bacon or Harden. Visually, the film is drab, but that may point more to Clint�s directorial ability, which I could see for the first time in this film. He is always focused on the actors, sometimes at the expense of the film�s appearance. I can see why they like to work with him. In closing, I would say that the film suggests much more hope then I had been lead to believe. There is the very real suggestion that things will not continue in this vicious circle, but that the amazingly tragic story will only get better from here; a feeling that is pretty important, given how low you will drop during the last 20 minutes of so. | |||||||