Mystic River (2003)
Mystic River
”Three childhood friends are torn apart by a tragic event that haunts them into adulthood.”
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Why watch this film?
"Mystic River", directed by Clint Eastwood, is a powerful, tragic, and devastating crime drama. The story follows the lives of three friends that have been marked by a tragedy in their childhood. Now adults and distant, a new event causes their paths to cross with suspicion and resentment. The film is a dramatic thriller that tells its story with great sensitivity and sorrow, we have different points of view presented in a convincing and understandable way, even if we don't agree with each one's ideas. It's interesting how the narrative construction takes place, with the story involving the characters and, in parallel, being driven by the characters of Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne, police officers investigating the case. The trajectory sends both the viewer and the characters into a spiral of doubts and distrust, and the way each one deals with it at the end reminds us that man is the wolf of man, questioning the desire for justice through vengeance and the institutional powerlessness of the police as to conductions. The film is brilliantly directed, and features intense and memorable performances from the entire cast.
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Plot summary
The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them suffers a family tragedy.
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From the same director
The 15:17 to Paris
Clint Eastwood brings his vision to a real case: the 2015 terrorist attack on the Amsterdam-Paris train. Based on the book 'The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train, and Three American Heroes' written by Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler, the three American tourists who acted during the incident, the film serves as a tribute to American heroism, shot in an interesting documentary style with the actual protagonists acting as themselves. On the other hand, the movie fails to create the necessary tension and in its ideological message.
Letters from Iwo Jima
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Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood is a great example of a professional who can excel as an actor and director. In "Million Dollar Baby", it was no different; Eastwood shows his directing ability with a touching and emotional story that is masterfully conducted and with great acting. On top of directing, Clint co-stars with Hilary Swank, who won her second Oscar for this production. The movie also won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor to Morgan Freeman, as well as Best Picture and Best Director awards. It's no wonder why; the movie tells a powerful and devastating story with a valuable moral lesson.
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Richard Jewell
All journalism students know the Base School case - when the owners of a Brazilian educational institution were unjustly massacred by the press for alleged child abuse. 'The Richard Jewell Case' is, proportionally speaking, the "Base School" of the American press: the private security guard who saved countless lives by finding a bomb in Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta in 1996 was accused of being the author of the terrorist attack himself - and was massacred in a trial by the press. The film, directed by the legendary Clint Eastwood, synthesizes these events with a heavyweight cast, including Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates (nominated for the Golden Globe and Oscar for the role), Jon Hamm and Olivia Wilde. However, the film brings a controversy: the story brings reporter Kathy Scruggs (played by Olivia and already deceased) offering sex in exchange for information, which would not have happened. In a way, in defending Jewell, the film commits the same mistake with Kathy.
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Clint Eastwood adapted the homonymous book that tells the real story of Chris Kyle, an elite sniper from the US Navy Special Forces. Kyle was the author of his biography and in the cinema, he was played by Bradley Cooper. As a work, the movie was highly praised by critics and received six Oscar nominations, including Best Actor for Cooper. However, Eastwood was accused of romanticizing the US invasions in the Middle East, due to his thinking aligned with the Republican Party. Again, as a work, 'American Sniper' is an interesting war movie, which deals well with the weight that soldiers carry throughout their lives, even after they return home. After all, for many, the war never ends.
Invictus
Based on the incredible true events gathered in journalist John Carlin's book 'The Human Factor', 'Invictus' is equally a sports drama and a historical account of the events that followed Nelson Mandela's liberation from prison, his democratic election as president in 1994 and the abolishment of apartheid; as well as the political use of the 1995 Rugby World Cup to unite a racially and ideologically divided country. Although a bit idealistic in some cases, Clint Eastwood's ('Gran Torino') powerful and emotional direction makes 'Invictus' an inspiring movie, with convincing performances by Morgan Freeman ('The Shawshank Redemption') as Mandela and Matt Damon ('Good Will Hunting') as Springboks captain François Pienaar.
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The Bridges of Madison County
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Gran Torino
With the marks of time deeply etched into his face, actor and director Clint Eastwood may present in 'Gran Torino' one of his most memorable works -- perhaps also his most sensitive and painful. Unjustly ignored during awards season, including an unbelievable snub for Best Actor and Best Film at the Oscars, 'Gran Torino' moves with the story of a war veteran who takes to "looking after" a neighboring Oriental family that is constantly harassed and even violently assaulted by gangs in the area. With a powerful and hard-hitting performance from Clint, as well as a direction that pays attention to the details of the veteran responsible for films like 'Million Dollar Baby' and 'Unforgiven', the feature film is a gift for those who enjoy good stories about friendship, sensitivity and breaking down prejudices.
Unforgiven
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'Downtown Owl' - Searching for a break from her cosmopolitan life in Milwaukee, Julia Rabia (Lily Rabe), arrives in the closeknit Reagan-era town of Owl, North Dakota for a one-semester high school teaching job. But when the small town turns out to be a wonderland of second-string poets, smoldering Marlboro Men, and a social hierarchy that echoes high school, Julia doesn't know if she's come to town to get away from home or to find it. Ed Harris, Vanessa Hudgens, Henry Golding, and Finn Wittrock also star in this Great Plains dark dramedy directed by Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater. Based on the novel by Chuck Klosterman.
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