Clint Eastwood Gets 'Mystic'
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| AP | |
| Oct. 3: Clint Eastwood and his wife Dina Ruiz arrive for the premiere of the film 'Mystic River' in New York. |
That's what Clint Eastwood said when he took the stage Friday night at the New York Film Festival.
The occasion was the premiere of Eastwood's new Warner Bros. film, "Mystic River," and he brought most of the cast with him: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Marcia Gay Harden and Laura Linney.
Kevin Bacon was AWOL, unfortunately, and Eli Wallach who is not credited but steals his one scene big-time was no doubt home in bed. (The screening didn't start until 9:30 p.m.; the party began at midnight.)
What is it about "Mystic River" that has everyone talking? I'll tell you: It's Eastwood himself. He directed this Brian Helgeland adaptation of Dennis Lehane's novel, and the result is exceptional.
Much of the buzz is about Penn, and deservedly so, but it's what Eastwood has brought to the Lehane material that has ignited Penn, Robbins, and Bacon. Without Eastwood's sensibility this would have been a redux of "Sleepers," the Barry Levinson adaptation of a book about four friends with a dark past.
Eastwood has brought "Mystic River" alive by casting it in the tradition of Elia Kazan and the great film-noir pictures of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Putting the nearly 87-year-old Wallach in it as a liquor store owner is no accident. (I'm actually surprised Richard Widmark didn't do a cameo, too; the two of them deserve honorary Oscars for their lives' work.)
Nearly every one of the shows Wallach appeared in during the golden age of television the whole of the 1950s is echoed in "Mystic River," whether it was "Playhouse 90," "Naked City" or any of the sponsored hours from Philco, Westinghouse and Goodyear.
Those stories, all set in the city among the "lower classes" (as it were), concerned hard-bitten heroes who straddled the line of villainy, crooks with a heart whose motivations justified their actions and whose endings were not wrapped up neatly with a ribbon. And the police were smart. In "Mystic River," Bacon and Laurence Fishburne do a world of good PR for crime fighters.
There's going to be a lot of Oscar prognosticating about "Mystic River" nominations: best picture, best Director (Eastwood), best actor (Penn), best supporting actors (Robbins, Bacon) and adapted screenplay (Helgeland).
For my money, the one to watch here is Academy Award-winner Harden ("Pollock"). Her performance as Robbins' frightened wife is just a hundred percent the best it can be. Her last scene actually underscores the entire film and foretells the future of the characters. Beautifully done!
Ever since she broke through in "Miller's Crossing," Harden has been causing a sensation. Like Anna Deavere Smith in "The Human Stain" and Patricia Clarkson in either "Pieces of April" or "The Station Agent," Harden is headed for the final five in the best-supporting-actress category.
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