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When Dave leaves the bar to vomit next to the Mystic River, the men follow him out. The climax of the film occurs when Jimmy and his friends get Dave drunk. She tells Jimmy that she thinks Dave killed Katie. Sean's partner suspects Dave, as he was one of the last people to see Katie alive and has a wounded hand (Dave tells them that he hurt it on the garbage disposal).ĭave continues to act strangely and his wife eventually tells Jimmy about Dave's strange behavior and the bloody clothing. Sean also learns that Jimmy is listed as a known criminal associate of Ray Harris. Ray Harris has been missing for some time, but Sean believes that his gun was still in the house.īrendan claims that Ray has been sending $500 a month since he disappeared. Sean discovers that the gun used to kill Katie was used in a liquor store robbery during the 1980s by "Just Ray" Harris, the father of Brendan Harris, causing him to suspect Brendan. Over the course of the film, Sean and his partner track down leads while Jimmy uses his neighborhood connections to conduct his own investigation. She is pregnant while she makes this call, but won't even tell Sean the baby's sex. In a subplot, Sean's wife Lauren has left him, and subsequently telephones him without speaking. Sean (Kevin Bacon), who is now a detective with the Massachusetts State Police, investigates Katie's murder with his partner (Laurence Fishburne). Dave claims that he fought off a mugger and possibly killed him. That night, Katie is murdered, and Dave comes home with an injured hand and blood on his clothes, which his wife helps him clean up. Katie goes out for the night with her girl friends and is seen by Dave at a local bar. She and Brendan are planning on eloping to marry in Las Vegas. Jimmy's 19 year old daughter Katie (Emmy Rossum) is secretly dating Brendan Harris (Thomas Guiry), a boy Jimmy despises. The two men are still neighbors and related by marriage. Jimmy (Sean Penn) is an ex-con running a neighborhood store, while Dave (Tim Robbins) is a blue-collar worker, still haunted by his abduction.
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Twenty-five years later, they are all still living in Boston. The film then cuts to Dave in the basement of the two pedophiles who took him and then to Dave running away from the house through a forest. Hearing that Dave was taken away by a police officer, the parents of Jimmy and Sean agree that something is wrong and begin to look for him. As the car moves away, Dave looks out the back window to see Jimmy and Sean staring back at him. Dave begins to write his name in the cement, but a car pulls up and a man who pretends to be a plainclothes police officer gets out, scolds the three boys, and tells Dave to get in the car. Jimmy impulsively writes his name in the cement and Sean follows. While playing, the boys find a section of sidewalk concrete that is still drying. The film opens with three boys, Sean Devine, Jimmy Markum, and Dave Boyle, playing hockey in the street. Sean Penn won Best Actor and Tim Robbins won Best Supporting Actor. It was nominated for six Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. The film opened to widespread critical acclaim. The film was written by Brian Helgeland, based on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. Strongly acted, strongly directed and strongly recommended.Mystic River is a 2003 American drama film directed, co-produced and scored by Clint Eastwood, and starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney and Emmy Rossum. Not quite vintage Clint but skirting round the ballpark, this textured murder mystery is a real return to form. This complaint aside, Mystic River is irrefutable proof that Hollywood's premier OAP can still flex those muscles.
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In fact, it's only the sidelining of the women that allows an element of frustration to creep into this thoughtful adaptation, the impressive Laura Linney and Marcia Gay Harden playing wives languishing at home. Satisfying, but not simplistic, the finale swirling with murky morals, a brief epilogue adding a note of ambiguity. And whereas, say, Robert Altman would have delighted in leaving everything hanging, Eastwood builds with assurance towards a satisfying climax. In contrast, Brian Helgeland's script and Eastwood's controlled direction strike just the right balance, giving the actors room to work - Penn's brimming rage is terrifying, his pain heartbreaking - yet always stoking the forward momentum. Focus too much on the characters and your narrative hook is left to dangle forlornly blithely skip from clue to clue and you have just another Hollywood suspenser: slick, taut but emotionally dead. As much a film about themes - fate, grief, friendship - as a police procedural thriller, it would be easy to misjudge the balance and flail between two stools.