Taglines: We bury our sins, we wash them clean.
When they were kids growing up together in a rough section of Boston, Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn), Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins) and Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon) spent their days playing stickball on the street, the way most boys did in their blue-collar neighborhood of East Buckingham. Nothing much out of the ordinary ever happened, until a moment’s decision drastically altered the course of each of their lives forever.
Twenty-five years later, the three find themselves thrust back together by another tragic event – the murder of Jimmy’s 19-year-old daughter (Emmy Rossum). Now a cop, Sean is assigned to the case and he and his partner (Laurence Fishburne) are charged with unraveling the seemingly senseless crime. In the wake of the sudden and terrible loss of his child, Jimmy’s mind becomes consumed with revenge – and his own plans to find the killer.
Caught up in the maelstrom is Dave, now a lost and broken man fighting to keep his demons at bay. As the investigation creeps closer to home, his wife Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden) becomes consumed by suspicion and fear, while Jimmy’s wife Annabeth (Laura Linney) draws her family tighter together in order to weather the storm. A taut, multi-layered drama, Mystic River is a story of friendship, family, and innocence lost too soon.
Though they live in the same houses where they grew up, Jimmy (Penn), Dave (Robbins), and Sean (Bacon) have drifted apart over time. Their distance is due to a disturbing and violent episode that occurred when they were children. Even now, as adults married with kids, they have never managed to overcome their fear and guilt about what happened.
Dave and his wife (Harden) still live next door to Jimmy, who is married to a tough-sexy blond (Linney) and has three daughters. When Jimmy’s 19-year-old girl is murdered, he turns to Sean, who works as a policeman, and delivers an ultimatum: find the killer fast or I’ll go after him myself. Little do they know, the culprit is the last person they’d ever suspect. This movie screened in October 2003 as part of the 41st New York Film Festival organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
Read the Full Production Notes
Mystic River
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Clint Eastwood, Tim Robbins, Laura Linney, Marcia Gay Harden, Eli Wallach
Screenplay by: Brian Helgeland
Production Design by: Henry Bumstead
Cinematography by: Tom Stern
Film Editing by: Joel Cox
Costume Design by: Deborah Hopper
Set Decoration by: Richard C. Goddard
Music by: Clint Eastwood
MPAA Rating: R for language, violence.
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: October 8, 2003