Mystic River (2003)

Mystic River (2003) is an American neo-noir crime drama film helmed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood. Set in Charlestown, Boston, the film follows three childhood friends, Jimmy Markum, Sean Devine, and Dave Boyle as they play street hockey one day in 1975. While writing their names on a patch of wet concrete, Dave is taken by two men posing as police officers and subjected to four days of abuse before finally managing to escape. Fast forward twenty-five years and we find Jimmy, now a former inmate running a local convenience store; Sean, a detective for the Massachusetts State Police facing marital issues after his pregnant wife Lauren leaves him; and Dave, a blue-collar worker still struggling with the emotional effects of his kidnapping. It’s worth noting that Jimmy and Dave are connected through marriage; Dave’s wife Celeste and Jimmy’s second wife Annabeth are cousins.

Katie, Jimmy’s daughter from his first marriage, has made plans to elope with Brendan Harris. Despite the fact that he is from a family that Jimmy strongly dislikes, she has been seeing him in secret. On one occasion at a nearby bar, Dave catches sight of Katie and her friends. Tragically, later that same night, Katie is found murdered and Dave returns home with injuries and blood on his body. He shares with his wife that he may have fought off a mugger who could potentially be dead. As the investigation into the murder begins, Sean and his partner Whitey Powers take charge while Jimmy, who is devastated by the loss of his daughter, uses his connections within the neighborhood to conduct a separate investigation.