Monday, December 17, 2007

Gone Baby Gone

Date: December 14
Location: Movies at Delray

I saw this at a trashy little old-school movie theater in Delray Beach, probably days before it disappears from screens altogether, and I'm so glad I did. Definitely among my favorite films of the year, this story about a Boston private eye investigating a kidnapping resonates both as a suspense yarn and a morality tale. Ben Affleck does teriffic work in his directorial debut — he blows away master Clint Eastwood, whose overrated Mystic River is by far the lesser Dennis Lehane adaptation. And Casey Affleck does his best work (unless he tops it in the Jesse James flick) as the young private eye whose inner strength trumps his inexperience. My only minor complaint is of the "I wish it were longer" variety — Michelle Monaghan's character clearly has a backstory that I wish had been explored. Like No Country for Old Men, this film has me heading to the bookstore for the source material.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I plan to see this movie when it comes out on DVD, I do disagree with you on the "overrated" Mystic River, as you know, it was one of my favorites :)

Anonymous said...

that last comment was from your mother not anonymous