This is the second installment of a feature here on DSB (click here for the first one)…we will be highlighting movies that you probably missed during their initial theatrical run but are worth your time seeking out from Netflix.

                                                Gone Baby Gone

                                        

Plot:

When 4-year old Amanda McCready is kidnapped, local private investigators Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) are hired by the girl’s aunt to complement the police’s effort.  Their investigation leads them into the seedy side of their Boston neighborhood where they encounter smalltime hoods, drug dealers, gangs, pedophiles, and corruption.  When they finally solve the case, they are confronted with a moral dilemma that tears them apart.

 
Key Scenes:

• Kenzie and Gennaro get cornered in a neighborhood bar while looking for any lead on the case.  On the outside Kenzie is all cocksure, but that’s because of the pistol he soon pulls from his pocket.  It isn’t until they are able to leave the bar that we see Kenzie’s relief and fear.
• When a police raid on a drugged-out pedophile’s den of inequity goes wrong, Kenzie has to provide assistance and finds himself making a split-second morality decision that haunts him from that point forward.
• Kenzie’s confrontation with the kidnapper and the decision he needs to make and what that means for the future of him and Angie.  The dénouement of the story is when Kenzie realizes the weight and consequences of his decision as he finally understands Helene’s lack of responsibility and absence from Amanda’s young life.

DSB Review:

Gone Baby Gone is Ben Affleck’s directorial debut and it was a smart choice for him to return to his Boston roots because he knows these people and he knows this community.  In helming the movie, Affleck strikes a nice balance between patient storytelling (think of Eastwood-directed films) and keeping the pace of a typical thriller.  The story is based on a novel by Dennis Lehane where he covers similar ground and neighborhoods as he previously did in Mystic River.

Best known for his work as one of the Malloy brothers in the Ocean’s Eleven trilogy, Casey Affleck shines in his starring role.  Big brother Ben couldn’t have pulled this role off - - at this point in his career, he doesn’t have the courage to show the vulnerability and uncertainty in this character that Casey finds in the part.

 
The revelation though is Amy Ryan’s portrait of the tragically lowlife and absentee mother, Helene.  Ryan’s performance was so spot-on that Oscar voters nominated her for a Best Supporting Actress award.  She takes a difficult role and makes you both sympathize and exasperated at Helene’s life and actions on the night of the kidnapping and the days after.

The moral dilemma that comes in the film’s climax and the resulting actions will have you questioning your own values and morals as you place yourself in Kenzie’s shoes as he decides over what is right and what is best.

Check it out if: you like a thriller with twists and turns and strong performances

Skip it if: the seedy underbelly of American life makes you easily upset

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