Reel Review: Gone Baby Gone

Director: Ben Affleck

Cinematography: John Toll

Screenplay: Ben Affleck, Aaron Stockard

Runtime: 114 mins

Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, Amy Ryan, Morgan Freeman

Synopsis: A four-year-old girl, Amanda Mcready, has gone missing.  Grieving family members enlist the help of private detectives Kenzie and Gennaro (Affleck and Monaghan) to aid the police in finding her. The two detectives soon realize that not everyone involved welcomes them, and are soon embroiled in world of mistrust and crime.

This is the first adaptation of the popular Kenzie and Gennaro novels written by the author Dennis Lehane.  Recently his work has been seen in another adaptation, Mystic River, directed by Clint Eastwood.  Gone Baby Gone is the superior of the two films in most aspects, but most in conveying the sense of location.  Lehane’s work is at it’s best when describing locations and community, Boston being the focus in both books.  Ben Affleck has crafted a film where the main character is the location Boston; we get a deep sense of community, which is conveyed from the opening moments and throughout.  You can tell that Affleck has a great deal of affection and knowledge of the City as he makes it look beautiful but peels away the layers so we see the dark underbelly where a good deal of the story unfolds.

As the two detectives begin their search they meet the hostility of the police, led by Morgan Freeman’s respected Captain with a past personal tragedy which influences his agenda.  The family of Amanda are made up of her mother (Amy Ryan), a drug using, unhelpful women who clearly has some serious failings in brining up her daughter.  Ryan’s turn as Helene Mcready rightfully won her an Oscar nomination, her portrayal as an obnoxious layabout whose main concern seems to be attaining all the media sympathy she can, will no doubt make her a star.  There is also Amanda’s Aunt and Uncle (Amy Madigan and Titus Welliver), the people who employ Kenzie and Gennaro, and the only people to be genuinely concerned about the girl’s whereabouts.  Early on we meet the two cops investigating the affair, Remy and his partner Poole, played by Ed Harris and John Ashton, they already have their ideas of Amanda’s fate.  The bleak story hints at the fact that Amanda’s life was not a good one at home with her mother, we as a audience are asked if maybe her fate is better than being at home.  With only an hour in though there seems to be some resolution to the story, this leads to a second half full of surprises and plot turns.  As the plot develops, the story reveals harsh decisions having to be made by all involved.

So which brother do we start with? Casey Affleck, here for the first time in a lead role, shows us how good an actor he is.  With his supporting turn in The Assassination Of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford and now this we are assured of his status as one of best young American actors working today.  He brings a quiet presence to his character in the main but often has moments that intensify under confrontation.  Even with the mass of talent that makes up the rest of the cast he makes the character of Patrick the most interesting, he is in nearly every scene of the film.  As the film approaches it’s climax he portrays the decisions that Patrick has to make with such depth that it forces the audience to asses what they would do in his situation.

The rest of the cast are also excellent, Ed Harris’ grizzled Remy being a standout, reminding us of how great an actor he can be.  Here his character is immediately likable in his bluntness but slowly we come to realize that his agenda is not clear. Morgan Freeman as always is highly watch-able; here he plays a man with deep convictions, desperately trying to do a good job.  Madigan and Welliver also excel, especially Welliver, who I was not familiar with until seeing this film.  The only negative with the cast is Monaghan, not that she is to blame, it is just her character is given very little to do but accompany Patrick and offer the odd opinion.

Now the second brother, Ben Affleck’s first directorial outing has shown how multi-talented he is.  I know he has made some bad career choices in the past, lets not forget some very good ones too (Good Will Hunting, Chasing Amy), With his stand out performance last year in Hollywoodland he can now lay those bad films to rest.  Here he paints a bleak world where nothing is as it seems, some of the visuals are outstanding from huge landscape shots to a simple shot of people watching television.  He is truly a gifted director and I hope we will see more films from him.  The script, co-written with Aaron Stockard, is also accomplished, the dialogue is always interesting and to the point and plot developments are deftly handled.   The middle of the film does go slightly adrift with pacing, as the plot gathers momentum for the second act, but this is a minor concern.  The trump of the duo’s script is in it’s ability to ask the viewer to make the decisions that the protagonists are faced with, moral dilemmas that will stay with you long after you have left the cinema 

We have had to wait some time for this film due to it’s resemblance to the Madeleine McCann news events of last year, I don’t often think that news events should effect a release date but it is obvious from viewing the film why it was necessary.  It has been better to view the film without the true-life event detracting from its drama and plotting.

The film is both a thought provoking drama and dark thriller.  The strong performances adding to it’s stature, where as it is not comfortable viewing it is one of the better films to be released this year and I strongly recommend.

 Reel Rating