It’s a family affair. Directed By Ben Affleck, starring brother Casey.
This movie was a bit of a surprise to me.
I had heard generally positive reviews, as far as I could remember but I didn’t remember the movie having a ton of “buzz.” It reminded me of Mystic River, which was nominated for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, and Adapted Screenplay (And Sean Penn and Tim Robbins won for Best Actor and Supporting Actor, respectively). All well and good, right? Except that I think this movie was better. (EDIT: I just looked up Dennis Lehane, who wrote the novel and he also wrote Mystic River so, there you go!).
I really like the use of very real and natural locations. I feel like you don’t normally see the seedier neighborhoods in movies (you might see Hollywood’s idea of what a seddy neighborhood might look like). And adding alot of non-actors in the supporting roles adds another dimension to this movie as well.
What I was most surprised at was the story. I remember the movie had to be postponed from its original release date due to the Maddie case that was going on world-wide at the time. And I really believed that the movie was a straight forward missing child case. But it wasn’t and it was so much better off for it.
Casey Affleck, where have you been. And how come there wasn’t more buzz about this being his breakout year? Between this movie and Assassination of Jeese James, he’s really proven himself as more than just a competent actor.
Amy Ryan is outstanding as Helene McCready. She is supposed to be despicable and and contemptible and alienating, and she is. There is some sympathy for her character, but only the slightest bit. The Academy Award nomination here is certainly deserved.
This is the first movie that I saw which was directed by Ben Affleck and was acted by his brother Casey Affleck…And what more can I say about the movie…well it is great…