Boston Films

 I watched two Boston. movies. One was Mystic River and the other was The Departed.  I had seen neither.

I liked the re-created yesteryear Boston--the yards, the gritty streets, the accents and scenes of playing children, and houses crammed together. The dialogue in both films was harsher than it had to be, the women defeated and hard-boiled. Everyone fights with little instigation, as if the Bostonians were all manque hockey players.. 

Mystic River is about three men, once childhood friends,who later in life become re-involved. In an early scene, one of them is abducted by a sinister man pretending to be a policeman. Afterward,  he seems to suffer a lifelong fugue state-- or something along those lines, cinematically enhanced. As the plot develops  he is a possible suspect in a murder.

The actors in this movie are well known. The plot is of growing collision of the characters. A five-minute discussion between the leads would clarify everything, but that discussion does not occur. I wonder how many people in the audience of this film were saying, "Why don't you just explain to the girls father what happened before he shoots you. Instead, he makes cryptic and self-incriminating comments, presumably because he has been damaged by abuse.

"The Departed" received praise from critics, with a few dissents--including one from Stanley Kaufman of  New Republic. The movie has A list stars. Directed by Martin Scorcese, it is similar to Goodfellows--the life path of a boy as he reaches manhood and then defeat, but this time with a Celtic flavor. A mole in the police department (Matt Damon)  must find the  mole planted in the mafia (Leonard DiCaprio).

 DiCaprio is the  more appealing of the two but not convincing as a tough policeman. Nicholson is the mafia Don, so this Don has the Joker's mannerisms and personality.  Ed Harris may have been a better choice for the role. Whereas Goodfellows or Raging Bull were  funny because of their accurate coarseness this movie has few laughs.  Mark Wahlburg is occasionally entertaining as an insulting Irish cop. The movie has one of those scenes where money is exchanged for guns, with dozens of heavily armed men of  different nationalities staring each other off.

Martin Sheen has the most measured performance. His scenes were a bit of a relief, if fact. There is much death and shooting, and one is reminded of Raymond Chandlers remark that whenever there is a drag in the plot, have a man come in with a gun. There also seem an endless amount of cell phone calls. Most everyone is shot at the end.

I started a third Boston movie, this time directed by a Wahlberg, either the brother or son of Mark Wahlburg or some other relative but Boston fatigue intervened.