Ben Affleck co-writes and makes his surprisingly adept directorial debut with ‘Gone Baby Gone’ - an involving Beantown-set tale of moral ambiguity in the wake of a missing 4-year old – a tale adapted by a novel from ‘Mystic River’ author Dennis Lehane.
Author Dennis Lehane, a former Boston child abuse case worker, has obviously been driven by a common motivation throughout his novels combining the working-class more foggy neighborhoods of Boston with the murky secrets and dastardly deeds that sometimes transpire from these blue-collar locales.
With Ben and Casey Affleck raised on the streets of Boston, and indeed, very familiar with the character types that fill Lehane’s novels, it seems Ben Affleck chose his material wisely.
That Ben Affleck’s roughneck beantown character in ‘Good Will Hunting’ seemed like a natural fit for him, a character deriving from the same streets that Lehane set his novels in, I don’t think Ben Affleck had to stretch much for a realistic direction of his actors.
Certainly his younger brother Casey Affleck proved to be perfect casting for our protagonist despite the immediate reaction that nepotism might be at play.
‘Gone Baby Gone’ was actually the fourth Lehane novel following the young private detectives that drive the story, Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan), a fact Ben Affleck basically ignores as he approaches these characters with no backstory.
Professional and romantic partners helming from the blue-collar Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, most of their work consists of tracking down deadbeats with their strongest pros being that they personally know most of the shady peeps that hang out in the shadows of bars due to going to high school with them.
Their moral compass remains fairly unchallenged until one morning they get woken up by an almost hysterical Bea McCready (Amy Madigan) and her husband, Lionel (Titus Welliver). The subject of a media maelstrom, they explain the case of their abducted 4-year old niece Amanda, who went missing from her single mother’s apartment three days earlier.
The mother, Helen (Amy Ryan), a spaced-out drug user not aware who is coming or going can’t be trusted to make any effort to find her daughter.
Bea assumes despite her husband’s Lionel’s reservations that Patrick and Angie might be able to make progress where the police force headed by Captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) and his Crimes against Children Unit can’t. Namely, Patrick and Angie have the connections with the shady underbelly to get information that the police might not have access to.
Angie at first hesitates not wanting to face the prospect that the cute little girl they would be tracking might be found dead but the requisite handing over of a cute picture convinces the pair to do what they can.
Captain Doyle, unlikely practical, sets up Patrick and Angie to work with assigned detectives Remy Bressand (Ed Harris) and Nick Poole (John Ashton – Affleck a big fan of ‘Midnight Run’ no doubt?) on the case and before long the quartet discovers a possible kidnapping ruse involving a local drug dealer and duffle bag full of money.
With Doyle’s approval, shady plans are made to swap cash for the child and the case is seemingly solved halfway through the film. To scrutinize more into the film would be to reveal unnecessary plot points but rest assured, our protagonists face some severely tortuous moral decisions – decisions not easily made and not easily lived with.
With Casey Affleck’s standout turn in ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’ and now his subtly effective work here, this looks like Affleck’s year. With a great cast of supporting players including Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris – Amy Ryan also commands attention with her Best Supporting Actress nominated performance as the drugged out mother.
Ben Affleck provides a ubiquitous sense of Boston filling out small characters with local talent and taking in the gritty streets of Boston with a vivid realism. The opening shots of the film consist mostly of cutaways of the real community and adds to the intentionally smaller feel of the film compared to the more epic, if not necessarily superior, canvas of ‘Mystic River’.
The film’s few faults fall down to some slight miscalculations in logic within the story itself - particularly the final question the film provides. Though I’m sure it results in a, at least cursory, discussion, the handful of people I talked about the ending with all agreed there wasn’t much of a question; a shortsighted, very subjective good deed that will continue to plague – a fact the haunting last shot of the film testifies to.
The film is presented in a anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen transfer and special features consist of an Extended Ending and Deleted Scenes, two featurettes ‘Going Home: Behind the Scenes with Ben Affleck’ and ‘Capturing Authenticity: Casting Gone Baby Gone’ and ending with a worthy, contemplative audio commentary by Ben Affleck and Co-Writer Aaron Stockard.
A very accomplished crime mystery pic that will immediately draw in fans of ‘Mystic River’ and the like, Ben Affleck displays a nice talent for behind-the-camera skills and fills out his picture with a perfect cast from his brother to seasoned pros like Harris and Freeman to the Oscar nom’d Amy Ryan. Despite a few reservations about the logic of the ending, it will provoke some discussion – never a bad thing.
Gone Baby Gone is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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