Great Film: Mystic River
Long Live the King?
After three eleven year-olds from a close-knit lower middle class
Boston suburb undergo a tragic experience where one is abducted and
abused for four days, their lives diverge. The abducted one never
overcomes the emotional trauma, another begins a life of crime, and the
third becomes a cop. None ever venture very far from the neighborhood.
When tragedy strikes again, their lives are gradually brought back
together on a collision course that leads to some unexpected results.
Mystic River is a surprisingly dark film, with a controversial
denouement. It is masterfully directed, acted, shot, edited, lit and
scored. It is a mostly humorless and occasionally difficult realist
drama, that will undoubtedly affect most viewers emotionally in a
variety of ways--you may cry, you may become angry with at least one
character and the lack of just deserts, and you may find it a bit
depressing, although producer/director/composer Clint Eastwood and
scripter Brian Helgeland do through in a relatively minor glimmer of
hope/happiness at the very end.
Not that I tend to agree with awards organizations, but it should be no
surprise that Mystic River has fine acting. A bulk of its many awards
and nominations, including two Oscar victories, were for on screen
performances. What is less recognized is the positive effect that the
locations, cinematography, lighting and score have on the atmosphere of
the film. Kokayi Ampah found the perfect, generic, metropolitan lower
middle class neighborhoods, buildings and bars. It could be any
slightly depressing, but maybe about to gentrify, suburb of Boston, New
York City, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, or any number of
at least Northeastern and Midwestern U.S. cities. Tom Stern's
cinematography is continually, subtly inventive. Just check out the
shot of Sean Penn where shadows from a railing form symbolic jail bars
on the wall behind him. The lighting tends to the late 1990s/early
2000s look that is more monochromatic and leaning-towards blue. There
are a lot of well-placed shadows, often creating a chiaroscuro look.
Eastwood's score is understated but very effective. And how can you not
like a film where three sexy girls dance on top of a bar to jazz
fusion?
The story is absorbing. There is an unexpected (to me, at least--I try
to watch films the first time knowing as little about them as possible)
mystery angle that is effectively sustained until almost the end. I
haven't read Dennis Lehane's novel yet, but I just ordered it after
seeing the film--the film piqued my interest enough to want to explore
more. But the most interesting part of the story to me, at least, was
the extremely gray depiction of Penn's character, Jimmy Markum. Markum
is revealed to be largely criminal, and not quite likable in his
attitude towards his daughter (he doesn't respect her individuality,
even though she's actually an adult). Yet at the same time, he is
compared by at least one character to a "king", and in many ways, he is
treated as one in the neighborhood. This may or may not be meant more
metaphorically by the character saying it, but it is possible to read
much of the film as being about a traditional king trying to live in
modern day metropolitan suburbia. In some historical and cultural
contexts, surely Markum's behavior in the film would have a more noble
sheen, including his "mistake". This is perhaps why poetic justice
never arrives, and instead, the character is seen as contented, with
his queen and court by his side, being regaled with a parade instead.
In modern contexts, many kings' behavior would not be so noble, and
instead we'd notice more the injustices done to the peasantry and
sympathize with them. Markum's character cannot be depicted more
literally as royalty, as if he were far removed from the socio-economic
status of the film's peasantry (although we find out eventually that he
has more money to spare than most folks in his neighborhood), because
it would be instead read as a moral tale of economic disparity as is
exists solely in modern times. Putting everyone on a level playing
field, more or less, is the only way to create a parable of how kings
would be perceived, solely in terms of their decisions and actions, in
our era.
Of course, there is more to the film than that, and it's not the only
interpretation possible (in fact, it probably seems very left field to
many readers), but it's worth pointing out not only as something
literally interesting to contemplate, but to show the kind of
storytelling depth that is contained in Mystic River--a film you should
not miss.
Cast
- Jimmy Markum played by Sean Penn
- Dave Boyle played by Tim Robbins
- Silent Ray Harris played by Spencer Treat Clark
- Sgt. Whitey Powers played by Laurence Fishburne
- Sean Devine played by Kevin Bacon
- Brendan Harris played by Tom Guiry
- Annabeth Markum played by Laura Linney
