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Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Director: Ben Affleck
Movie review
From Time Out New York
A beautifully observed piece of South Boston regionalism filled with tough talk and uneasy stare-downs, Gone Baby Gone eventually crams in way more plot than is necessary. But in the moments when its missing-child drama simply aches with expressions of loss or confusion, it suggests the emotional acuity of The Wire or Mystic River—two other projects that novelist Dennis Lehane has been involved in. The movie leans hard into thick accents, midday barroom shadows, and compromises of career and love. All cop films should feel this lived-in.
Let’s thank Ben Affleck, odd as that may seem. The actor, a dependable source of preening self-regard, has somehow become a fine director of modest silences. In adapting Lehane’s sprawling story (Affleck cowrote the script with fellow Bostonian Aaron Stockard), he has carved out meaty, conflicted roles for his up-and-coming younger brother, Casey—who’s terrific as the film’s neighborhood favorite and private investigator—as well as the consistently underrated Michelle Monaghan (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) as his work partner and bedmate.
The two make a completely believable duo, wiping sleep from their eyes as relatives of a distraught mother appear at their doorstep. Cops are already on the case, but the couple’s personal touch is deemed more effective; you squirm as they are sucked into the scarier reaches of Boston’s criminal underworld (and corrupted overworld). Even as habitual hams Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris fill up the stillness with tortured monologuing, the younger drama is never out of sight. Ultimately, it’s what devastates you.
Author: Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out New York Issue 629: October 18-24, 2007
User reviews of this film
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- bluesdoctor said...
- Posted on Nov 05 2007 00:36 Complex, multilayerd. Asks difficult moral questions and offers no easy answers. Mostly superb performances. Excellent plot, firm direction. Leaves you thinking, haunted and troubled. Best serious drama of the year.
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- bluesdoctor said...
- Posted on Oct 29 2007 17:11 Very few missteps in this sombre meditation on morality. Easily the best movie in mainstream circulation right now.
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- Yasi said...
- Posted on Oct 22 2007 01:29 Oops, forgot to rate it.
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- Yasi said...
- Posted on Oct 22 2007 01:27 Ben, wow, you did a GREAT job. I don't think anyone could have done any better. ..loved the story. It was well shot, the acting was amazing... Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris were cast perfectly. Keep this up and your buddy Matt will have to keep up with YOU. And I love Matt Damon, so I pardon me while I wince, but this was truly artfully done. It's an anti-hollywood film in every respect...no big vehicle names in this one, no money shots, no force fed corporate advertising bullshit. It inspires thought, and prokes an audience to ask themselves "What would I do if?" It's long over due. I hope you will continue to direct...and act a bit too.
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- Just saw it said...
- Posted on Oct 20 2007 02:38 Awesome entertainent. Definitely Oscar-worthy
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Cast & crew
Director: Ben Affleck
Cast: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, Amy Madigan, Titus Welliver, Amy Ryan full cast
Rated: R
Duration: 115 mins
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