Jason KingGONE BABY GONE (2007)
May 16th 2008 06:29
Category: No Category
GONE BABY GONE (2007) $15.50
PURE FUCKING CINEMATIC BRILLIANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Forgive my use of a swear word and caps but yes I am yelling it and I am trying to get my message across. I had just written my opening saying how this film is hard to describe and the only similar film I could compare it to is Mystic River when low and behold I just find when looking up the film it is based on a novel by the exact same author as Mystic River. Spooky!! Hence my deletion of the opening and this is what you get instead.
Dorchester, one of the toughest neighborhoods in all of Boston, is no place for the weak or innocent. It's a territory defined by hard heads and even harder luck, its streets littered with broken families, hearts, dreams. When one of its own, a four-year-old girl, goes missing, private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro don't want the case. But after pleas from the child's aunt, they open an investigation that will ultimately risk everything - their relationship, their sanity, and even their lives - to find a little girl-lost. Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane.
This is Ben Affleck's directorial debut and all I can say is thank god this man can direct as his acting was quite undesirable. As a director for this film he is flawless and achieves everything a great director should. The most important thing is he jagged me with a massive hook from frame one and never let me get off the line. He had me from Hello. Haha. The script is insane, the plot is heavy and absolutely brilliant, this isn't a film to go to with friends and have a laugh. It's deadly serious and deals with unsavory topics and does it while building great character developments, of which we get introduced with a cast of astronomic proportions. Let's start with Morgan Freeman, minor but still cemented presence, Ed Harris - should have been nominated for best supporting actor at the Oscars, then go to Amy Adams as the drug fucked (if you can't get used to the swearing in this article then the movie is not for you) mum bitch and labeled the C bomb in the movie who did receive the ONLY Academy Award nomination for this film and the person I found the weakest in the entire film - bizarre. Then John Ashton who I remember most as Det. Sgt. John Taggart from Beverly Hills cop films - he is AMAZING. WE haven't even got to the leads yet!!!! Amy Madigan deserved to win the best supporting Oscar this year and it would have been nice if she was even nominated but as she dropped the C Bomb this may have offended a few people but her acting skills and presence are earth shattering. I think of her best as psycho religious freak from Carnivale TV show.
Michelle Monaghan plays one half of the detective/ lover/ partner duo with Casey Affleck and I was so surprised to see her in this after watching the fluffy romantic comedy Made Of Honor only a few weeks ago. She is great - not a strong character but she makes her presence felt. She is more Casey's character's moral mirror to help him bounce his ides off and support him. But she is great and in one scene she has the bigger balls and jumps off a cliff to save a child. Then there is Casey Affleck, Ben's little bro in blood only but much bigger and way more talented as an actor. Is it script and role choice, is it looks, is it vulnerability. I think it's the works - this guy has it all. He is smaller than most of the thugs in this film but emanates defiance and pure strength - in the first 15min he hits this guy for dissing his girl and you just feel his power. Also, his laconic tones, disliked by a few, and not suitable to many characters are beyond suitable for this character and further strengthen his presence. They just belong to the guy who has seen it all, is warn down from it but in no way is out of the action, in fact lives it daily and with acceptance.
The film is a moral questioning film that may ask you what you would do in the situation. Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) lives life on a high moral ground and did what he did because of belief and redemption. There is the opening quote of the film from the bible that sums up the plot "You are sheep among wolves. Be wise as serpents, yet innocent as doves." This one powerful statement at the start of the film nearly drew a tear.
Another amazing quote to give you an example of this film:
Detective Remy Bressant (Ed Harris): "There's a guy pumping up in an apartment up in Columbia Point. . . The old lady's beat to shit, the husband's mean, cracked out. . .Rats, roaches, all over the place. But the kid's room, in the back, was spotless. No, I mean, he swept it, mopped it; it was immaculate. The little boy's sitting on the bed, holding onto his Playstation for dear life. There's no expression on his face, tears streaming down. He wants to tell me he just learned his multiplication tables. I mean, the father's got him in this crack den, subsisting on Twinkies and ass-whippings, and this little boy just wants someone to tell him that he's doing a good job. You're worried what's Catholic? I mean, kids forgive. Kids don't judge. Kids turn the other cheek. What do they get for it? . . .You gotta take a side. You molest a child, you beat a child, you're not on my side. If you see me coming, you better run, because I am gonna lay you the fuck down! Easy." - Just Brilliant.
Trivia: 1) The film's UK release, scheduled for 28 December 2007, has been postponed indefinitely because of the film's similarity to the real-life case of four-year-old Madeleine McCann who disappeared from the holiday apartment where she and her family were staying in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on 3 May 2007. 2) Broadway actress Amy Ryan looked and sounded so convincing as a low class Dorchester mom that a security guard mistook her for a fan on the first day of location filming, and wouldn't let her on the set. One of the producers finally noticed her on the other side of one of the barricades, and said she should be let through. The incident made Ryan twenty minutes late, but convinced her the Boston accent she'd prepared was realistic. 3) Amy Ryan was so convincing with her Boston accent in her audition, that director Ben Affleck asked her what part of Boston she was from.
This is one of the best films of the year and will blow your mind. It's bloody heavy and has many turns and twists that are in no way predictable. A MUST SEE. At art house cinemas now in Oz and prob on DVD in the US. $15.50
PURE FUCKING CINEMATIC BRILLIANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Forgive my use of a swear word and caps but yes I am yelling it and I am trying to get my message across. I had just written my opening saying how this film is hard to describe and the only similar film I could compare it to is Mystic River when low and behold I just find when looking up the film it is based on a novel by the exact same author as Mystic River. Spooky!! Hence my deletion of the opening and this is what you get instead.
Dorchester, one of the toughest neighborhoods in all of Boston, is no place for the weak or innocent. It's a territory defined by hard heads and even harder luck, its streets littered with broken families, hearts, dreams. When one of its own, a four-year-old girl, goes missing, private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro don't want the case. But after pleas from the child's aunt, they open an investigation that will ultimately risk everything - their relationship, their sanity, and even their lives - to find a little girl-lost. Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane.
This is Ben Affleck's directorial debut and all I can say is thank god this man can direct as his acting was quite undesirable. As a director for this film he is flawless and achieves everything a great director should. The most important thing is he jagged me with a massive hook from frame one and never let me get off the line. He had me from Hello. Haha. The script is insane, the plot is heavy and absolutely brilliant, this isn't a film to go to with friends and have a laugh. It's deadly serious and deals with unsavory topics and does it while building great character developments, of which we get introduced with a cast of astronomic proportions. Let's start with Morgan Freeman, minor but still cemented presence, Ed Harris - should have been nominated for best supporting actor at the Oscars, then go to Amy Adams as the drug fucked (if you can't get used to the swearing in this article then the movie is not for you) mum bitch and labeled the C bomb in the movie who did receive the ONLY Academy Award nomination for this film and the person I found the weakest in the entire film - bizarre. Then John Ashton who I remember most as Det. Sgt. John Taggart from Beverly Hills cop films - he is AMAZING. WE haven't even got to the leads yet!!!! Amy Madigan deserved to win the best supporting Oscar this year and it would have been nice if she was even nominated but as she dropped the C Bomb this may have offended a few people but her acting skills and presence are earth shattering. I think of her best as psycho religious freak from Carnivale TV show.
Michelle Monaghan plays one half of the detective/ lover/ partner duo with Casey Affleck and I was so surprised to see her in this after watching the fluffy romantic comedy Made Of Honor only a few weeks ago. She is great - not a strong character but she makes her presence felt. She is more Casey's character's moral mirror to help him bounce his ides off and support him. But she is great and in one scene she has the bigger balls and jumps off a cliff to save a child. Then there is Casey Affleck, Ben's little bro in blood only but much bigger and way more talented as an actor. Is it script and role choice, is it looks, is it vulnerability. I think it's the works - this guy has it all. He is smaller than most of the thugs in this film but emanates defiance and pure strength - in the first 15min he hits this guy for dissing his girl and you just feel his power. Also, his laconic tones, disliked by a few, and not suitable to many characters are beyond suitable for this character and further strengthen his presence. They just belong to the guy who has seen it all, is warn down from it but in no way is out of the action, in fact lives it daily and with acceptance.
The film is a moral questioning film that may ask you what you would do in the situation. Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) lives life on a high moral ground and did what he did because of belief and redemption. There is the opening quote of the film from the bible that sums up the plot "You are sheep among wolves. Be wise as serpents, yet innocent as doves." This one powerful statement at the start of the film nearly drew a tear.
Another amazing quote to give you an example of this film:
Detective Remy Bressant (Ed Harris): "There's a guy pumping up in an apartment up in Columbia Point. . . The old lady's beat to shit, the husband's mean, cracked out. . .Rats, roaches, all over the place. But the kid's room, in the back, was spotless. No, I mean, he swept it, mopped it; it was immaculate. The little boy's sitting on the bed, holding onto his Playstation for dear life. There's no expression on his face, tears streaming down. He wants to tell me he just learned his multiplication tables. I mean, the father's got him in this crack den, subsisting on Twinkies and ass-whippings, and this little boy just wants someone to tell him that he's doing a good job. You're worried what's Catholic? I mean, kids forgive. Kids don't judge. Kids turn the other cheek. What do they get for it? . . .You gotta take a side. You molest a child, you beat a child, you're not on my side. If you see me coming, you better run, because I am gonna lay you the fuck down! Easy." - Just Brilliant.
Trivia: 1) The film's UK release, scheduled for 28 December 2007, has been postponed indefinitely because of the film's similarity to the real-life case of four-year-old Madeleine McCann who disappeared from the holiday apartment where she and her family were staying in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on 3 May 2007. 2) Broadway actress Amy Ryan looked and sounded so convincing as a low class Dorchester mom that a security guard mistook her for a fan on the first day of location filming, and wouldn't let her on the set. One of the producers finally noticed her on the other side of one of the barricades, and said she should be let through. The incident made Ryan twenty minutes late, but convinced her the Boston accent she'd prepared was realistic. 3) Amy Ryan was so convincing with her Boston accent in her audition, that director Ben Affleck asked her what part of Boston she was from.
This is one of the best films of the year and will blow your mind. It's bloody heavy and has many turns and twists that are in no way predictable. A MUST SEE. At art house cinemas now in Oz and prob on DVD in the US. $15.50
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Comment by Cheryl J
Rhythmatism
Zentertainment
Budget Centsability
Ben Affleck should have turned his hand to directing before as he does a great job with this. The casting was superb with the standout for me being Amy Madigan. She has been around a long time and she's always been good but she's one actress whose performances get stronger and better as she ages. I loved her in Carnivale and she's just popped up recently with a small recurring role in Grey's Anatomy.
She definitely deserved at least a nomination. I think you're right though, one little word can shut down chances for awards. It can have a powerful impact and was such a necessary part of the script.
Great review!
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
This film blew my mind and I agree about Mystic River - it's brilliant.
Am so with you on Amy Madigan - she was just brilliant and whether the C Bomb or anything else caused her to be overlooked for a nomination or to be just noticed on anything for her performance she wins the JK GOLDEN STATUE for 2007-2008 BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS PERFORMANCE.
Comment by Cheryl J
Rhythmatism
Zentertainment
Budget Centsability