Release Date:
February 12, 2008 Director: Ben Affleck Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris Genre: Drama, Mystery MPAA Rating: R (for violence, drug content and pervasive language)
Review: For his initial offering as
director, Ben Affleck returns to the site of his first Oscar: South Boston. (He
and Matt Damon shared the award for Good Will Hunting.) Hot on the heels
of his moving turn in Hollywoodland, Affleck's Dennis Lehane adaptation
marks one of the more seamless actor-to-filmmaker transitions in recent years.
Ostensibly, a procedural about the search for a missing child, class and
corruption emerge as his primary concerns. First off, there's low-rent private
eye Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck, equally adept in The Assassination of
Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford). Then there's the girl's drug mule
mother, Helene (Amy Ryan, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead). She and
Patrick grew up in Dorchester, but he took a different path, setting up an
agency with his girlfriend, Angie (Michelle Monaghan). Helene's aunt, Bea (Amy
Madigan), hires the duo to augment the investigation, and they team up with
Captain Doyle (Morgan Freeman) and Detective Bressant (Madigan's husband, Ed
Harris). The authorities don't appreciate the interference, but Patrick knows
how to get the local populace talking, and he soon finds there's more to the
story than anyone could possibly imagine. Hard-hitting, but never soft-headed,
the evocative end result proves Affleck has a flair for this directing thing and
that his little brother can carry a major motion picture with aplomb. Gone
Baby Gone belongs on the list of great Boston crime dramas, along with
The Departed and Mystic River...more
Movie Spotlight
Gone Baby Gone Release Date: October 19, 2007 Studio: Miramax Films Director: Ben Affleck Screenwriter: Ben Affleck, Aaron Stockard Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris Genre: Drama, Mystery MPAA Rating: R (for violence, drug content and pervasive language) Official Website:
GoneBabyGone-themovie.com
Plot Summary: "Gone Baby Gone" is Ben Affleck's directorial debut and is
based on the novel from the acclaimed author of "Mystic River." It is an intense
look inside an ongoing investigation about the mysterious disappearance of a
little girl. Two young private detectives (Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan)
are hired to take a closer look at the case and soon discover that nothing is
what it seems. Ultimately, they will have to risk everything -- their
relationship, their sanity, and even their lives -- to find a little girl-lost.
The film also stars Academy Award Winner Morgan Freeman ("Million Dollar Baby")
and Academy Award Nominee Ed Harris ("Pollack").
EN 5 Second Review:
An amazing directorial debut. This is a unexpectedly
very good movie
In
his strikingly downbeat directorial debut, Affleck has created something
of a blue-moon rarity: an American movie of genuine moral
complexity Jim Ridley: Village Voice
Where Affleck proves unfailing, though, is in the superbly
scaled performances he elicits from his cast, free of the operatic
overplaying that occasionally edged Mystic River's needle into
the red. ...more
It's
deceptively simple going forward, but devilishly complex in
retrospect Colin Covert: Minneapolis
Star-Tribune
In "Gone Baby Gone," Casey Affleck digs into a missing-child
case that the Boston Police Department can't solve...more
Release Date: October 19, 2007
EN 5 Second Review:
An amazing directorial debut. This is a unexpectedly
very good movie