“We bury our sins here, Dave. We wash them clean.”

Mystic River and Unforgiven are my two favorite Clint Eastwood films and depending on which one I see last I tend to put in first place. Right now I’m inclined to declare Mystic River as Eastwood’s best film, but that is subject to change anytime (perhaps even before I finish writing this review). Nominated for six Academy Awards, the film won two: Sean Penn for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Tim Robbins for Best Supporting Actor. I was rooting for Brian Helgeland’s wonderful screenplay adaptation from Dennis Lehane’s novel, but it lost out to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Helgeland had previously won…

First watch of Noir-Vember. Following the standard police detective plot - murdered girl, multiple suspects, who will turn out to be the killer? - ‘Mystic River’ scores its point by enlisting a set of actors who surpass their level, led by a tremendous Sean Penn; man does that guy have range (I saw ‘Milk’ last week, what a difference). Second positive thing: though crimes seem to bore me without exception, Clint Eastwood sets a pace here that’s not rushed per se, but so captivating from the first minute that the hours seemed to fly by. Got myself some pizza at what I thought would be the forty minute mark, only to see there was barely an hour left! The variety…

I might have to watch more of Clint Eastwood's films. I only wanted to watch this because I was informed by fellow Letterboxd user Philip Carroll in my Gone Baby Gone review that it was based on a Dennis Lehane novel. Added to that, the script was written by Brian Helgeland, who also wrote the script for the excellent L.A. Confidential, so I did have high expectations for this.

While I admit some skepticism on behalf of its director, Clint Eastwood, my doubts were indeed put to shame. I have only seen three of the films Eastwood has directed, and I did like both Letters from Iwo Jima and Unforgiven, but he also directed J. Edgar, which wasn't a good…

It's like vampires. Once it's in you, it never goes away. 

Clint Eastword's Mystic River is one heart ranching, depressing, and powerful look at gulit, pain, loss, and the human condition.

Every shot and frame of this picture makes the situation of the plot feel more grounded and believable without any need to shove it in our faces. Thus making the impact this has much stronger.

The likes of Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon imboied their characters to pure perfection. As we get to understand the state each character are in and how they are connected with the struggle they're facing. All of them facing hardship in their life and they don't know how to control it because…

A very different type of film from what I'm used to from Clint Eastwood, who I quite like as a director and actor.

Although it's filmed in the typical crime/mistery style, the cinematography is quite good, creating the right ambience and atmosphere. Still, the focal point of the film isn't necessarily the way it was film, since there's nothing out of the ordinary about that.

The story, on the other hand, is quite different and very interesting. We get to know the past of the main characters briefly at the start, and I really enjoyed the way that past worked itself into the main story. All secondary characters are well introduced and relevant and you really feel the intensity of…