Review: Gone Baby Gone

Casey Affleck and his live-in girlfriend Michelle Monaghan are also partners in the PI business in working class Boston, who are hired by concerned Aunt Amy Madigan (rock-solid as always), to help find her little niece who has disappeared from home. This isn’t too hard to believe, given the girl’s mother (Amy Ryan) is a dead-beat drunk and junkie, who is rarely coherent, let alone responsible (maybe Joan Crawford wasn’t such a bad parent after all...) The duo join official investigators in the case, veteran cops Ed Harris and John Ashton, with Morgan Freeman as their superior officer. Freeman (whose casting seems more perfect the longer the film goes on), head of the Crimes Against Children Unit, is the one who suggests the sharing of information between the cops and the junior PIs (the latter obvious having friendly connections and ease of movement within the ‘hood), and he himself was the father of a kidnapping victim who was sadly never found alive, and knows that time is already behind them in terms of finding the little girl alive. The investigation leads them through dangerous drug dealers, paedophiles, not to mention the unfriendly, tight-lipped attitude locals have (which Affleck and Monaghan are hopefully on hand to counter). Titus Welliver scores as Madigan’s seemingly decent husband (well, actually, Harris is Madigan’s husband, but that’s in real life...never mind), who is concerned for the little girl (he and Madigan have clearly been better caregivers to the girl than Ryan), and knows who and what his sister Ryan really is. Michael K. Williams impresses (when doesn’t he?) in a small role as a cop.

 

Who would have thought that every critic’s favourite punching bag, Ben Affleck would be capable of directing (in his debut behind the chair) such a shattering, thought-provoking film? This 2007 mystery/crime/drama based on a Dennis Lehane (the similarly dark crime-drama “Mystic River”) novel, though baring superficial similarities to real-life crimes, is an impressive, intelligent film with an authenticity in its brooding Bostonian flavour and atmosphere. The Afflecks being natives of Massachusetts, they’ve given this a seemingly authentic sense of place but also what I can only describe as deadbeat dread. Even though the Afflecks are from Boston, Ben doesn’t paint this place as paradise. There’s a lot of grit, seediness, hopelessness, and a whole lotta trashy people. I know people fling snarky crap at Ben Affleck from time to time, but let’s not forget that Ben has indeed won an Oscar for co-writing the screenplay (with his former conjoined twin Matt Damon) to “Good Will Hunting”, so there’s more to this guy than being the former appendage to Gwyneth Paltrow, J-Lo, and Jennifer Garner.

 

There are characters, events, and themes in this film that you will not be able to shake from your head for weeks afterwards. The implications of the finale alone (contrived as that finale may be), have haunted me to this very day. I believe the right decision was made in the end (I’m treading lightly here, so as not to spoil anything), but if I were in the position of having to make that decision...I’m not so sure I could live with myself (The big twist, by the way, could possibly be compared with a certain unmentionable period in Australian history, although it’s an incredibly long bow. It did, however, give me pause).

 

The performances, are also mostly impressive, with Oscar-nominee Amy Ryan earning top honours for playing perhaps the most pathetic and useless woman in the history of cinema (if not the face of the Earth). You’ll hypothetically want to kill her, but somehow...you just pity her, and what makes the performance so remarkable is that there’s not an ounce of caricature in it, a seemingly near-impossible achievement, but Ryan does it wonderfully. It could’ve gone so wrong, but Ryan doesn’t turn it into pantomime at all. This woman is disgustingly, pathetically real. Also excellent are old pros Ashton (still playing cops, some 23 years after “Beverly Hills Cop”), Harris (in a fucking terrible mood, to the film’s great benefit), and of course Freeman (showing everyone else how to give a small role as much attention and care as a big one), and a real surprise in Welliver, in perhaps his meatiest part to date. Affleck really lucked out getting actors like Harris, Ashton, and Welliver, they really do convince in their parts. Similarly, although Freeman doesn’t sound remotely Bostonian, if Morgan Freeman wanted to be in my movie, well he could put on whatever accent he damn well pleased, as far as I’m concerned. Affleck the Younger (who made for an outstanding Bob Ford, by the way, to Brad Pitt’s Jesse James), meanwhile, is at first a tough sell as a detective as he looks a lot younger than he actually is (he was in his 30s in real-life but looks in his mid-20s at best). Although I would’ve preferred someone with a little more gravitas (say Ed Norton, Matt Damon, or Joaquin Phoenix), he gets the job done nonetheless and is definitely a nice fit to the Boston surroundings (not to mention he’s a better actor than Ben!). It also helps that his youthful appearance is actually brought up in the film. I actually think his performance works better on subsequent viewings where you’re no longer questioning his age. Monaghan, on the other hand, is a bit too innately sweet to convince, and far too lightweight a thespian for such dark material. She doesn’t kill the film, but if there’s a casting issue, it’s her. She works better on subsequent viewings, but is still a bit bland and lightweight.

 

The hostility with which some of the locals greet Affleck’s character in the film is very funny, in an otherwise very dark film. These are some ornery bastards who like to hurl insults at each other by way of general conversation, sometimes. It’s some levity to the film, but not in any way that feels inauthentic, like with Monaghan’s presence.

 

An extremely impressive film, perhaps more for the material and the actors than Affleck’s direction. However, some praise is due in Ben’s directorial corner too, something you’ll probably notice more on subsequent viewings. This one’s gonna get you arguing with your date, folks. I like that the finale will cause debate, possibly even within yourself. It’s a twist that is for more than the sake of having a twist, it’s a twist with a purpose, with a really dark theme at the centre and it’ll make you think. Wow! The screenplay is by the director and Aaron Stockard (apparently Ben’s Cambridge pal), from the Dennis Lehane novel.

 

Rating: B-