Mystic River 

Starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Laura Linney, Marcia Gay Harden (Directed by Clint Eastwood)

*****

            “Mystic River” is the best film of the year. It creates beautifully rationalized performances, features an all star cast, and has the genius talent of the century’s best filmmaker, Clint Eastwood, who directs with such craft and skill that you wish he were a young newcomer, so that you’d be able to look forward to many of his films in the future.

            Jimmy Marcum (Sean Penn), Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins) and Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon) are childhood buddies until an event shatters their relationship forever. Now, as adults, murder has pulled them together again. Jimmy’s daughter is murdered, and Sean is the cop investigating the murder. After the funeral and many other events, Dave is one of the prime suspects. Laurence Fishburne costars as Sean’s partner, who believes that Sean may not want to believe Dave did the crime because of their friendship.

            Everything I’ve told you so far would lead you to believe it’s a mysterious thriller, and it is, but it is so much more. It works on the levels of a crime drama, a buddy movie, a dramatic tragedy, and a tale of love and friendship. For a while, the three main characters try to act as if their lives have almost become stable. But by the end, as they fall apart, you can see that they are no ordinary characters. People don’t change in this movie, but our view of them does. Jimmy is a criminal, Sean is a cop, and Dave is a real loner, but by the end, they’re the same lonely, alienated person.

            At one key moment in the movie, Jimmy says, “We bury our sins, we wash them clean.” When you see this moment, look at the faces of the actors portraying them. You can see fear, love, and anger, and maybe, for an instant, you can realize what’s it’s like to regain friendship at the same time as death.

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