Gone baby gone - Review

Gone baby gone is not a new movie. It was released in 2007. Am surprised how I did not hear much about it. It was a matter of chance that I happened to see this movie, full of commendable performances, last night.

The film revolves around the kidnapping of a 3 yr old girl in the shady parts of Boston. It goes on touching issues of kidnapping, drug-dealing and abuse of children - all the ingredients of a social rather crime awareness movie. The story is something that can happen to anyone, yet is something you wish does not happen to anyone.

The protagonist (Casey Affleck) is a private detective living with his work-partner in our shady suburb. He is hired by the family of the missing kid to find her. Now one might ask why he and not the strong police is the protagonist in the movie. Well our guy happens to be brought up in the community and is just the right kind of person with contacts within the world down under, possible where our missing kid is. At times the viewer is definite to be thrilled with how a simple looking person like our man can go on and threaten all those biggies of the underworld. But it's carried in the movie in a convincing way.

Although I don't want to spoil your own experience if you ever watch the movie, am tempted to discuss about the ending. The climax puts you, the audience, in the midst of a question - is everything you think is right, really right? When you look back and see do you really think abiding by the rules of law was the right thing to do? What would you do if you had a chance to change a person's life by compromising on what you believe to be right?

Some of the scenes in the movie are haunting. They force you to come face to face with the horrible things we do to our children and family. At one point of the movie, the story makes you feel that you have reached the end , but suddenly it shifts by 180 degrees - a characteristic of a perfect mystery! The movie is like a page turner book, it makes you sit at the edge of your seat. Few references in the story reminded me of Mystic River. Only when I read the details of the movie on wiki did I realize why, after all they have a common author.

When the titles played on the screen I told myself, “Ben Affleck probably made this movie just to give his brother Casey a much needed big break after his small roles all these years”. But after 2 hours I could not stop admiring Ben for his directorial talent. The movie also has big names like Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman, who as usual deliver brilliantly however small a role one gives them. And Casey, well, I’m surprised we are not seeing much of him these days. He is definitely a gifted actor. I hope I get to see more of him.

What made last weekend good was...

...that I watched Breakfast at Tiffany's.It's one of those feel good romantic comedies. I'm a huge fan of romantic comedies , especially the ones with more romance and lesser comedy :). Anyone would agree that movies like When Harry met Sally , You've got mail, French Kiss or Breakfast at T.'s are sure to make it one's 100 movies to watch anytime to cheer oneself up.

I couldn't have imagined anything better to do this windy weekend than getting cosy on the couch with Breakfast at T's playing.Although I had watched it already, I wanted to see it again.You see that's the thing with these romantic comedies, you can watch them again and again. I hardly remembered Moon river, but as soon as the titles starting coming up on the TV with Audrey Hepburn eating her croissant in front of Tiffany & Co. the tune came back to me. After all a tune doesn't win the Oscar without being qualified as memorable!

Audrey Hepburn amazes me. 8 years after Roman Holiday she still managed to look the same innocent looking 20-ish girl and portrayed her role so convincingly. You can't help but sympathise with the poor little Holly Golightly. She makes you fall in love with her inspite of the facts like she absolutely deserted her family back home and ran off for her own reasons, accompanies men for 50$ bills and turns her back on her true love Paul.

Apart from the deliberate fun made of Holly's Japanese neighbour upstairs, the portrayl of which even the Director Blake Edwards regretted later, the movie is a memorable one. For me it will always be a one of the best things to watch on a cold windy dull day :)

Image source - thecinemasource dot com