Which leaves only one option for the antagonist. In my opinion, it is the namesake of the film, the Mystic who functions as the antagonist. The river is symbolic of all the bad in the characters’ lives. If we take the last shot of the film, the sweeping aerial shot of the river, this theory becomes apparent. It is a dawn or dusk shot, not important, but it serves to illustrate that time simply goes on, and everything looks fine, in fact, the river almost looks beautiful. However this is not the reality. Lying in a watery grave are at least two bodies and a knife, put there by Jimmy. The poster of the film says that we cannot bury our sins, they will only come back to haunt us. Although Dave was an innocent child, he tried to forget his past and paid dearly as a result, because he could not. Jimmy does this physically by burying his sins in the river, perhaps hoping that they will metaphorically be washed clean or forgotten. The river simply carries on. It has no favourites; it chooses no sides and gives no favours. But by its very nature the river is two things: superficially benign and innocent and dark and menacing under its surface. It is what lies beneath that should scare us. This is a metaphor for the characters’ lives, and as the truth cannot be hidden, at least not for long, it is their own undoing. Thus, the river, at least what is represents in the lives of the characters is the predominant antagonistic force in the movie.
In further analysing the major elements of the story we need to discuss what the objectives of the major characters are, that is, what desire is it that drives them from one scene to the next, thus giving room for setbacks, conflict and therefore drama and ultimately the movie. If we examine each character in turn we see their respective and connected goals throughout the movie. Jimmy vows to find his daughters’ killer, in order to enact revenge. This is his main objective, the force that drives him. Sean in fulfilling his duty as a cop has the same objective. For Dave, his primary objective is somewhat more internal. His goal, it seems, is to get a grip on his life. To sort himself out psychologically. Each character also has minor objectives, Jimmy tries to deal emotionally with the loss of his daughter, Sean is dealing with his wife leaving him, and Dave, with forgetting his past.
Mystic River poses some pertinent questions and deals with some challenging and significant themes. When is revenge understandable? How much should we do for love? The inherent human desire for self-preservation. The nature of jealousy. People are victims of their environment? Are we bound by our pasts? But for me the major theme of this story, that is, what it’s really about is an exploration of the idea that we cannot bury our pasts, that we will only become a victim of them. This idea ties in nicely with the potential/actual fates of the three. If for a moment we examine Jimmy, Sean and Dave as three parts of a whole, the theme becomes apparent. Dave, the child to have the most traumatic experience ends up an adult wreck and ultimately dies through, in part, his inability to cope with life appropriately. Jimmy, possibly the “strongest” of the three, ends up with the wrong crowd in his youth, and while he tries to come clean, when his life hits a rocky patch, he reverts to his old ways. He ends up making wrong decisions, and his life deteriorates into a lie. Sean acknowledges that he had an unhappy childhood, but chooses to rise above it, resulting in a successful life.
As mentioned above, Mystic River has an enjoyably clever plot construction, with the main as well as sub-plots converging together in a perfectly paced and cleverly thought out manner. In further analysing the plot let’s break it up into its acts.
ACT 1
The movie uses time cleverly. The opening sequence of the boys, serves both as an introduction, and a hook. After the disturbing sequence of Dave escaping from his captors, we are fast-forwarded to the present day with the three guys as adults. There is a slight lull in the pace and drama as we are introduced to the guys in their routine and environment. This takes care of the rest of Act 1, answering all the necessary questions: who are the major characters, what are they like, what do they do with their time, who are the secondary characters, where is the movie taking place and when, finally the enticing incident or major plot point occurs; Jimmy’s daughter goes missing and is found murdered. This leads up to the first act climax; Jimmy and the savage brothers’ reaction the murder. This incident throws a spanner into the lives of all the characters, giving them all a clearly defined goal, which fuels them on for Act 2.
ACT 2
The body of the film takes care of the plot development. For Sean he spends act 2 trying to solve the mystery of the murder, doing interviews and piecing together the pieces of the puzzle. For Jimmy he tries to do the same, taking care of his own investigation, whilst dealing emotionally with the loss of his daughter. Dave sinks progressively lower with each scene, as he becomes the chief suspect of the investigation.
About half way through the film comes the second major Turning Point. Just as the investigation seems to be going nowhere, they get a break in the case, as the bullet used to kill Jimmy’s daughter is matched to a gun, belonging to the father of Katie’s’ boyfriend. Suddenly the goal is refreshed. The detectives seem to be getting closer and Jimmy rushes to beat them to it. Dave’s wife, Celeste is not convinced as, following the dubious injuries attained by her husband the night of the murder, coupled with his progressively stranger behaviour, she begins to seriously suspect his innocence in the whole affair.
It will ultimately be her actions at the end of act 2 that lead to his death, and the final climax of the film. This major Turning Point occurs when Celeste approaches Jimmy, telling him of her husbands’ possible involvement in the murder. This new energy fuels the story and objectives of the characters, setting up the pieces for the major climax and resolution of Act 3.
ACT 3
Act 3 is brilliantly put together. The resolution is somewhat of an anti-climax, but more on that later. The pace picks right up as we hurtle to the inevitable yet unpredictable ending. The detectives make more and more breaks as Sean intuitively pursues the lead of the gun. Jimmy makes his move on Dave in taking him to the Bar. The questioning becomes more and more malevolent as we become aware of the tragic debacle about to take place. All roads lead together in a masterfully shot and cut climax. The action takes place in parallel, as we become agonizingly conscious of the true murders, whilst witnessing the avoidable and savage murder of Dave.
I must say I found the final resolution a bit unsatisfactory and out of context. Jimmy and Sean simply reminisce about their youth. With Jimmy showing too little remorse over his actions. Then Jimmy’s wife, Annabeth, who was very quiet for the majority of the movies, in a Lady MacBeth look a like scene, disturbingly justifies her husbands’ actions. We are left not sure what is going to happen to Jimmy, with Sean, uncharacteristically unconcerned about it all. The haunting scenes of Dave’s wife wandering distraughtly down the street, dissolves appropriately to the last shot, that of the Mystic. This symbolises adequately that life simply and inexorably, carries on.
A number of factors make this movie one of the best of the year. Perhaps it is its grim realism, its no-holds depiction of bleak south side Boston, its portrayal of characters living in and affected by their environment. One of the definite factors must be films performances. Penn and Robbins are unbelievable, depicting agony and desperation like never before. Bacon finds a role that he too can prove his merit at his craft. I found Fishburne’s character somewhat unbelievable. He was a two dimensional character that featured far too much. This clearly wasn’t Whitey’s movie, yet he had more screen time than the depth of his character deserved. However Fishburne gave a quality performance.
Eastwood proves his ability to direct. Not only does he get remarkable performances from his actors, he manages to capture the Feel Look and Mood of the world and situations the characters find themselves in, all with true style. What we are left with is a film that is not afraid to confront some serious issues, to delve deeply into the human condition and depict a poignant example of life’s potential for pain. As mentioned, the performances are superb, the story unpredictable and engaging and the cinematographic narration, hallmark. The film holds all the characteristics of a timeless classic.
9/10