But since Kael herself often, and rightly, celebrated popular entertainment and certain forms of chicanery as legitimate art, there’s something peevish about her objections to him. Many debates have been waged in the past - often sparked by Pauline Kael - about whether Eastwood the director deserves to be considered an artist rather than a poseur or a popular entertainer. It’s why reviewers are so desperate to establish its artistic pedigree. I find less suspect the reviews that have linked Mystic River to opera - an art form that’s generally enhanced rather than reduced by melodrama.īut the larger issue isn’t the degree to which Eastwood’s movie qualifies as art. Mystic River is as close as we are likely to come on the screen to the spirit of Greek tragedy (and closer, I think, than Arthur Miller has come on the stage).” If Denby had given it more thought, he might have put even Aeschylus (and his lighting schemes) second to Clint. The New Yorker‘s David Denby, who can usually be counted on for such judgments, doesn’t disappoint: “ Mystic River, with its gray, everyday light, is a work of art in a way that, say, The Big Sleep and Out of the Past, which were shaped as melodrama and shot in glamorous chiaroscuro, were not. Now the dark vision of Mystic River is being touted as a form of higher wisdom graced with noble feelings that for some reviewers mysteriously translates into high art. The last Eastwood movie that provoked biblical language and allusions to Greek tragedy was Unforgiven (1992), which also saw violence as both awful and unavoidable - our destiny and perhaps even our birthright. patriotism as well - one reason it’s likely to rack up plenty of Oscars. Some of those critics may have seen it as a vindication of U.S. The acclaim started after the film premiered at Cannes, when much of the griping American press seemed to see it as a vindication of American filmmaking, an answer to the terrible state of cinema in general. Presumably these qualities are also in Dennis Lehane’s best-selling novel, which I haven’t read, but it’s the movie that’s drawing most of the superlatives from American critics. It does not store any personal data.The critical community has spoken: Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River is a masterpiece and a profound, tragic statement about who we are and the inevitability of violence in our lives - a pitiless view, in which violence begets violence and the sins of the fathers pass to later generations. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly.
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