Bad times in
Beantown

>> Ben Affleck makes an impressive
directorial debut with the dark Boston
crime drama Gone Baby Gone

by MARK SLUTSKY

After “Bennifer,” Pearl Harbor, Daredevil, Gigli, Surviving Christmas, after all that Ben Affleck has had to offer us in the last few years, it can be startling to remember that the guy happens to be an Academy Award-winning screenwriter. Remember? Good Will Hunting? Seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it? Now Affleck’s returned to his roots, sort of: he’s co-written Gone Baby Gone, a new film set on the mean streets of South Boston, which also happens to be his directorial debut.

Here’s the thing: it’s actually really good. Though not a Good Will Hunting fan, I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Affleck—maybe because of his great turn in Dazed and Confused, or maybe for the jokey self-awareness he sometimes displays in interviews. Or maybe I just feel bad because Matt Damon has made one great career choice for every bad Affleck movie. But even so, Gone Baby Gone surprised me: it’s a great crime procedural with a real shot of moral ambiguity.

The movie’s based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, who also wrote the book that became Mystic River. Like that film, it’s set in the seedy side of Boston, and Affleck doesn’t skimp on the local colour, making the taverns, street corners and local tough guys look as grim, if not more, as they probably are.

His brother, Casey Affleck, (also in this week’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) stars as one half of a private eye team with girlfriend Michelle Monaghan. After a young girl goes missing, they’re hired by the family to assist the investigation, headed by police chief Morgan Freeman and run on a more nuts-and-bolts level by cop Ed Harris. They follow the trail to a Haitian drug lord named Cheese (Edi Gathegi), and to reveal any more would ruin the film’s several interesting plot twists and turns.

Gone Baby Gone is a very good, very dark detective film. The setting is interesting and well-detailed and the plot moves along smoothly. Affleck has done an impressive job, though there’s one flaw. I like Casey Affleck and Monaghan a lot, but they seem awfully young and cute to be playing hard-bitten private eyes. That aside, it comes recommended.

Gone Baby Gone opens
this Friday, Oct. 19

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