Mystic River(2003)

Mystic river is a mystery drama film directed by Clint Eastwood. Its about the life of 3 childhood friends who reunite when a murder happens and how the murder gets connected to their past.

Cast :Sean Penn ,Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Tom Guiry, Emmy Rossum

Plot and summary: 

Three teenage boys(Jimmy Markum played by Sean Penn, Dave Boyle played by Tim Robbins and Sean Devine played by Kevin Bacon) are playing hockey in the empty streets of .... When the puck goes down a sewer drain. They then begin to write their names on a wet concrete side walk when 2 men in police uniform question them. One of the boys is pocked up and then we see the kid being held hostage and abused by them. The scence after that is 25 years later, a murder of a young girl is reported by 2 kids to the police. While questioning their identity they flee away.

Jimmy, is a local mob boss and also  owns a store in the city. Dave is a handyman and Sean becomes a homicide detective. The three friends meet when jimmy's daughter gets murdered and Sean is assigned as the detective. The story unravels as a whodunit and finally what happens to the three of them is the rest of the film.

Tim plays Dave Boyle - a timid middle aged and most weakest of the three. He is also the most mysterious character of the film. His character is as such very dark and disturbing, at the end of the film suspicions of his wife Leeds to his death (much like Macbeth)
Dave was abused at a very young age which affects him mentally, On many times in the film he narrates his memory of his childhood in strange ways to his kids and his wife,
"I've got to get my head right, get a nice long sleep , the boy will return to the jungle  to his fireflies away from the wolves". Through his action throughout the film we can see that he is trying to erase that memory but he can't .

On the same night Katie gets murdered he returns home with blood on his hands, though he tells he was attacked by a mugger, he becomes a prime suspect by  his wife, jimmy and finally by Sean.

The depth of characters in the film is the major reason for the films success. The story deepens with each scene as the investigation for the murderer begins. Family feud, personal vengeance and hate among families are all part of the story.

Sean Penn character is the most demanding in the film and this is one of his best performances. He is both a very violent person and at the same time he is very emotional because of his daughter's loss. The anger drives him blind at the end.

Sean devine , though composed all the time also has a past, he has separated from his wife, and he is full of regret which we cab see by his emotionless face which he gives throughout the film.

At the end, jimmy decides to kill Dave by the river , even though he doesn't have any actual proof. Both Dave and jimmy are drunk and Dave says some strange things about a child molester that he killed that night. He again goes back to his old memories of a kid but jimmy is blinded by anger and finally kills him.

The next day Sean walks up to jimmy and says the murderers of Katie have been caught. They are just a bunch of kids trying to play prank which went bad. Jimmy is shocked, then the conversation becomes a little strange, Sean says " you have to give 500$ to Dave's family to the rest your life" like they have done it before. In between when Sean asks jimmy if he had seen Dave , he tells him I haven't seen him since 25 years and the first scene where Dave gets abducted by the two police officers appear and the scene ends with the concrete slab with their names on it.

The implication of the first scene is mentioned in several placed by the lead characters, jimmy tells that if he was the one who got abducted he would have never got the guts to marry Marita and Katie would have never been born and would not be dean now. At the end both Sean and jimmy tell that if the officers had kidnapped all three of them, Dave would nor be dead now.

Verdict:

There is a mention about the name of the film at the end when jimmy kills Dave and says "this is where we wash our sins and come clean". The river is actually called mystic for it swallows many bodies and secrets which are never to be found.

Considered one of the classic mystery films of all times. This film got nominated for 8 Oscar awards and won best actor for Sean Penn and best supporting actor for. Tim robins.