Gone Baby Gone [2007]
Director: Ben Affleck
Actor: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman
Patrick (Affleck) and Angie (Monaghan) are a couple living in the same troubled, lower class, blue-collar neighbourhood in South Boston that they grew up in. They know almost everyone, and as such have made a good living as private detectives, specialising in missing people. When a little girl goes missing just down the street, and a media frenzy ensues, they are asked by Bea McKenzie, the girl’s aunt, to aid in the police’s investigation of the case. They feel a little out of their depth, because the cases they normally work are people skipping out on their car-payments or runaway kids, but they quickly fall in love with the little girl, Amanda, and try their best to help out. The reason for their involvement is because of their close connection to the neighbourhood, and people will talk to them that won’t talk to the police. The mother of the girl, Helene (Ryan), is found to be a terribly unfit mother, drinking, snorting and engaged in drug-muling for a rather psychotic druglord. Patrick and Angie team up with detective Bressant (Harris) and detective Poole (Ashton), backed by police captain Doyle (Freeman) to do what it takes to bring Amanda home. They dive deep into the seedy underbelly of South Boston, and uncover dirt on almost everyone involved, including the police. Patrick and Angie taking increasingly bigger risks and have to deal with friction between each other as the two no longer see eye to eye on the moral choices they have to make.
This movie was written by Dennis Lehane, author of other acclaimed books, like the one that Mystic River was based on, and true to form his depiction of lower class, blue-collar neighbourhoods is phenomenal. Ben Affleck did a wonderful job translating his vision to the silver screen, capturing the grittiness and the ugliness in spades. One of the things I really liked is that they managed to make everyone look either plain, or ugly. Casey Affleck’s performance is pretty good, though I wonder if his aloof, almost dim acting style – the same one that he adopted in the Assassination of Jesse James – is an act or just part of his personality. Regardless, it works well for this film, especially when it’s exchanged for an occasional delivery of some bad-ass lines. A good example is when he’s threatening the psychotic, Haitian druglord Cheese; awesome.
I liked this film, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of Lehane’s films brought to the silver screen, as well as more of Ben Affleck’s direction.