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Mystic River

Mystic River

Thriller · Drama · Mystery · 2003

The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them suffers a family tragedy.

Movie details

Mystic River

“We bury our sins, we wash them clean.”

2003 Thriller · Drama · Mystery 2h 18m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.7 / 10

Community rating

The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them suffers a family tragedy.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Mystic River?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

The Sixth Sense

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Point Blank

Point Blank

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After being double-crossed and left for dead, a mysterious man named Walker single-mindedly tries to retrieve the rather inconsequential sum of money that was stolen from him.

Spider

Spider

Drama · 2002

A mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.

Sleepers

Sleepers

Crime · 1996

Two gangsters seek revenge on the state jail worker who during their stay at a youth prison sexually abused them. A sensational court hearing takes place to charge him for the crimes.

Primal Fear

Primal Fear

Crime · 1996

Defense attorney Martin Vail takes on jobs for money and prestige rather than any sense of the greater good. His latest case involves an altar boy, accused of brutally murdering the archbishop of Chicago. Vail finds himself up against his ex-pupil and ex-lover, but as the case progresses and the Church's dark secrets are revealed, Vail finds that what appeared a simple case takes on a darker, more dangerous aspect.

Cape Fear

Cape Fear

Drama · 1991

Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.

Violent Ends

Violent Ends

Thriller · 2025

Lucas Frost, an honest man brought up in a crime family whose only legacy is violence, tries to make his own life with his fiancée, Emma. He is suddenly pulled back into the family business he so despises when his cousin, Eli, perpetrates an armed robbery on a local scrap yard and an innocent life is caught in the crossfire.

Gone Girl

Gone Girl

Mystery · 2014

With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.

Changeling

Changeling

Crime · 2008

Los Angeles, 1928. When single mother Christine Collins leaves for work, her son vanishes without a trace. Five months later, the police reunite mother and son. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, her quest for truth exposes a world of corruption.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Clint Eastwood

Written by

Brian Helgeland

Sean Penn

Sean Penn

Jimmy Markum

Tim Robbins

Tim Robbins

Dave Boyle

Kevin Bacon

Kevin Bacon

Sean Devine

Laurence Fishburne

Laurence Fishburne

Whitey Powers

Marcia Gay Harden

Marcia Gay Harden

Celeste Boyle

Laura Linney

Laura Linney

Annabeth Markum

Kevin Chapman

Kevin Chapman

Val Savage

Court is in session

Put Mystic River on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.