Mystic River

Details

Winner of two Academy Awards®, for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Sean Penn) and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Tim Robbins), Clint Eastwood's eagerly anticipated, haunting masterpiece Mystic River will be released on DVD by Warner Home Video on 7th June 2004. The film was nominated for 4 BAFTA Awards and was winner of the London Critics Circle Film Awards' Actor of the Year (Sean Penn) and Director of the Year (Clint Eastwood).

Drawing together "A fantasy line-up of modern cinema" - Esquire, Clint Eastwood brings his own Academy Award® winning (Unforgiven) directing style to this complex, emotional thriller based on the best-selling novel by Dennis Lehane} and adapted for the screen by Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential). Sean Penn leads an all star cast in a moving performance as a father mourning the loss of his murdered daughter. Penn's career spans previous Academy Award® nominated roles in Dead Man Walking, I Am Sam and Sweet and Lowdown. Tim Robbins, an actor of considerable power (The Shawshank Redemption, The Player) has a history with Penn having been Academy Award® nominated for directing him in Dead Man Walking.

Joining Penn and Robbins are Academy Award® winner }Marcia Gay Harden (Pollock), who was nominated as Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Mystic River, Kevin Bacon (Sleepers), Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix trilogy) and Laura Linney (The Truman Show). With award winning performances, Mystic River is a compelling modern masterpiece that will enthral.

Clint Eastwood (Director, Producer, and Music) is the consummate filmmaker. Mystic River marks his 24th film as director and 19th as producer. His career spans four decades and has touched generations of moviegoers. He is one of the most prolific, versatile artists in the history of the medium. Eastwood's remarkable achievements have been fuelled by his enormous box-office appeal and likewise reflected in the recognition he has received. His respect within the film industry is matched only by his appreciation from the public at large. His ongoing body of work is without peer.

A thought-provoking piece of quality cinema, Mystic River was nominated for 6 Academy Awards® including Best Picture and Best Director and won Best Actor in a Leading Role (Sean Penn) and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Tim Robbins). Neil Norman of the Evening Standard said, "...it is a film of magisterial, slow burning power." James Christopher of The Times said of Penn "This is a tension-in-the-shoulders performance, edgy, dangerous, alert and full of guile." While Robbins was praised by Kevin O'Sullivan at the Daily Mirror as giving }"the best performance of his distinguished career to date."

Synopsis

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. Nothing much ever happened in their neighbourhood. That is, until Dave was forced to take the ride that would change all of their lives forever.

Twenty-five years later, the three find themselves thrust back together by another life altering event - the murder of Jimmy's 19-year-old daughter. Now a cop, Sean is assigned to the case and he and his partner (Laurence Fishburne) are charged with unravelling the seemingly senseless crime. They must also stay one step ahead of Jimmy, a man driven by an all-consuming rage to find his daughter's killer. As the investigation tightens around these three friends, an ominous story unfolds that revolves around friendship, family and innocence lost too soon.