Review: Gone Baby Gone, 2007
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Cast: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Amy Ryan, Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris
Director: Ben Affleck
There are two ways of measuring achievement - in the absolute, and relative to others. Some efforts stand out because we have seen mediocrity and failed attempts so often that we rush to laud that which is merely not bad. Then there are those efforts that stand on their own - which when judged on their own merits, when confronted with great legacies and acknowledged excellence, still hold their own. "Gone Baby Gone" is a movie that might have easily fallen into the former category, owing to the oft ridiculed acting career of its first-time director, Ben Affleck. It is a pleasure and relief that it falls resoundingly into the latter.
One might be forgiven for going into a movie with a title that seems straight out of a Vanilla Ice number, starring the unheralded younger brother of an infamously unlucky and much-maligned actor who is himself helming his first film, with expectations set a little low. "Just don't let it be too bad", we pray. The predictable montages begin - the gritty underside of Boston's shining exterior, the media circus and sensationalism that surrounds the disappearance of little Sarah McReady, the two private investigators hired by the missing girl's aunt and uncle. The girl's mother is a crack addict, socializes with drug dealers and can earn every possible disqualification from being a mother. But what's this? A hint of sadness and vulnerability beneath all that bravado? Could it be that she really loves her daughter? Could this movie be more than what it seems?
Ben Affleck weaves his web around you with unbelievable dexterity, and rather than the forgiveable lapses of a débutante, you sense the assured hand of a master craftsman at work. Little hints in scenes that add up, without being thrust in your face, invoke a growing sense of uncertainty within the viewer, mirroring the protagonists' changing view of their own reality. Moral questions apart, this is a wonderfully wrought investigative piece that leaves just enough to the imagination. Events unravel slowly but surely, bringing into light deeper events and motives, effectively building up to moments where fundamental questions of right and wrong are raised.
However, there is not just one Cinderella story in this movie's production - there are two. Casey Affleck uses his brother's direction to the fullest, exhibiting hard-headedness, vulnerability, sensitivity and determination in his portrayal of private investigator Patrick Kenzie. He would go on to score his first Oscar nomination for "The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford" in the same year, but this performance will remain a watershed in his career, marking the point where he stepped outside his big brother's shadow and proclaimed his arrival as a serious, talented actor.
Despite its many other merits, this movie would not have worked without the complex supporting characters and the commendable ensemble cast who brought them to life. Amy Ryan secured an Oscar nomination for her tortured, atypical performance as Helene McReady, the mother of the missing child. Michelle Monaghan does commendably in a fairly straightforward role, while Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris manage to stay outside the limelight just enough for their characters to have precisely the effect intended. It is because of them that the movie works, and we justifiably remember their characters long after the movie is over.
Just a few years ago, Clint Eastwood succeeded exceedingly well in adapting another of Dennis Lehane's novels, "Mystic River" to the big screen. Undaunted by his predecessor and without taking anything away from the raw power of "Mystic River", Ben Affleck manages to impart his own signature to "Gone Baby Gone" - not in the least, that of a Boston which he knows and understands like no other. "Gone Baby Gone" is a masterpiece that powerfully raises deep moral questions within the framework of an astutely crafted detective thriller. It's a film any filmmaker would be proud of, and makes one wish that Ben Affleck would stay behind the camera more often than in front of it.
P.S. Kierthi, wake up! This blog needs you!
posted by Kaushik Ramajayam at
2:11 AM
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