Review:Affleck Directs Powerful `Gone'

Say the name Ben Affleck, and myriad images come to mind.

The loyal Red Sox rooter and John Kerry campaigner. Half of the Oscar-winning Matt-and-Ben "Good Will Hunting" duo. Another half of the tabloid-fodder "Bennifer" couple. A sometimes-solid actor ("Hollywoodland," "Boiler Room") prone to weak movie choices ("Bounce," "Daredevil," "Gigli").

"Gone Baby Gone" will leave you with a new picture: filmmaker.

In his directing debut, Affleck has found his calling, an avenue for using his obvious intelligence while getting out of the way of his own celebrity. Co-writing the script with longtime friend Aaron Stockard, Affleck presents a place oozing with atmosphere and rich, complicated characters. He has enough confidence in himself (and in us) never to go for the safe, easy answer.

The film is based on the child-abduction novel by Dennis Lehane, author of "Mystic River," which earned several Oscars under Clint Eastwood's direction. Like "Mystic River," "Gone Baby Gone" is set on the rough streets south of Boston. Much has been written about Affleck's decision to populate the background of this gritty crime drama with authentic locals; he even gave several of them speaking parts during crucial scenes in run-down bars. It was a bold move that paid off big-time. You feel as if you've been immersed in an insular neighborhood, where your block is your entire world and secrecy is a critical trait.

As one of Boston's highest-profile native sons, Affleck clearly knows this area well. You won't find any regional cliches here no obvious cutaways to foliage or Fenway Park. (Though he does thank Sox stars David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez in the closing credits. Maybe they helped out as grips on the set one day.)

Working with two-time Oscar-winning cinematographer John Toll and composer Harry Gregson-Williams, Affleck never sugarcoats or overdramatizes the surroundings, instead establishing a mood that's fraught with danger, suspicion and dark discoveries around every corner. It's depressing and bleak, but also excitingly alive and real.

Private investigators Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck, Ben's younger brother) and Angie Genarro (Michelle Monaghan), partners in work and love, are hired by the family of the abducted 4-year-old girl Amanda McCready. The relatives figure that no one in the neighborhood wants to tell police if they saw or heard something, but they'll talk to a local guy they know and trust.

Patrick and Angie persuade the chief of the Crimes Against Children department (Morgan Freeman, among the superb supporting cast) to let them tag along with the detectives assigned to the case. Remy Bressant (a powerful, unpredictable Ed Harris) and his partner, Nick Poole (John Ashton), grudgingly agree to meet and talk with them, but Patrick suspects from the start that they're not being entirely forthcoming.

This is a hunch that will hold true for nearly every single character in "Gone Baby Gone," including Amanda's mother, Helene, a difficult role masterfully portrayed by Amy Ryan. Helene is an alcoholic, junkie, sometime-prostitute and drug mule. She probably loves her daughter but is so screwed up and selfish, she's also unapologetically neglectful. This is someone it would be easy to hate; Ryan makes her such a complete human being, you walk away feeling angry, yet with a glimmer of unexpected sympathy.

Just when you think Patrick and Angie have solved the case, another wrinkle emerges then another and another. Affleck keeps you hanging on, wondering where he's going next, but never overhypes the proceedings. And the younger Affleck serves as an engaging figure to help us navigate the story's many turns. He comes off as a regular guy who can be both forceful and frightened, and his character ultimately faces decisions that would trouble anyone.

That pervasive sense of moral ambiguity is one of the strongest elements of "Gone Baby Gone," and it will you keep you thinking and talking about the film long after it's over. This much is indisputable, though: Ben Affleck is a director who surely has more great things in store.

"Gone Baby Gone," a Miramax Films release, is rated R for violence, drug content and pervasive language. Running time: 114 minutes. Four stars out of four.

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

Affleck Says Directing Is 'Exhilarating'

Fresh off his directorial debut, Ben Affleck says he's found his calling. "In the beginning, part of wanting to be a director was just a natural extension of acting," said Affleck, whose movie "Gone Baby Gone," opens Friday. "But now this feels like what I am, or what I want to be. It's so satisfying and exhilarating.

"In fact, the central preoccupation of my life right now is trying to find another movie to direct," he told The New York Times for a story in Sunday's editions.

Affleck co-wrote the script and directed "Gone Baby Gone," a crime thriller set and filmed in Boston about the search for an abducted 4-year-old girl.

He told the newspaper he included as many locals as he could in the film, people plucked off the street or discovered in bars, even for speaking roles. One woman was cast as a beer-drinking smart-mouth after approaching him and saying, "I should be in your movie."

"I wanted something raw and authentic and even a little scuffed up," said Affleck, who grew up in the area. "People go to the movies to see something they can't get otherwise, and I thought this was a chance to take you somewhere that you couldn't otherwise get to the Boston you never see in the movies."

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

Wrapup of Entertainment Quotes

"It was probably bad for my career." Ben Affleck, on his relationship with Jennifer Lopez. ___

"I understand the tabloid machine. There's money to be made off Angie and me, but it has gotten so out-of-hand. There's no decency, even when it comes to our kids." Brad Pitt.

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"There's a lot of love and a lot of wars." Billy Baldwin, on his relationship with his famous siblings.

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"There's so few genuine surprises in life anymore that, why not have a huge surprise? And I like fantasizing one day it's a girl, one day it's a boy." Halle Berry, on why she doesn't want to know the sex of her unborn child. Berry is about three months pregnant; the father is her boyfriend, model Gabriel Aubry.

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"It was really hard, because I knew it wasn't a very good film, and it makes you a liar, sort of, but you have to, because it's your job to promote a film. I was like, I don't want to tour again for a film that doesn't work on any level." George Clooney, on hating the publicity tour he had to do for "Batman & Robin" in 1997.

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"I like the idea that my movies can all go on a shelf together and they are connected. I'm perfectly fine if that's the case that they're of the same ilk in some way." Director Wes Anderson, whose quirky film repertoire includes "Rushmore" and "The Darjeeling Limited."

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"If I don't have kids soon, I am going to adopt. Even if I do have kids, I think I will (adopt). I always thought to myself that I would be a better father later on in life." John Stamos.

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"I relate to her and feel really sad for her." Tatum O'Neal, on Britney Spears.