Gone Baby Gone is a heart wrenching story of a missing girl and the desperate search for her by family, police and a private detective named Patrick Kenzie. Kenzie is portrayed brilliantly by Casey Affleck who could very well have gotten an Oscar nod for this role. He's already up for supporting actor for his equally marvelous role in The Assassination of Jesse James... and as good as he is in that he is ever better in this movie.
Gone Baby Gone was directed by Ben Affleck who also had a hand in adapting the screenplay from the novel by Dennis Lehane, writer of Mystic River. Set in Boston, this story gave the Boston native the unique ability to make it authentic and with his choice of casting his brother Casey in the main role and using local people as extras the authentic Boston feel comes through perfectly. Ben has destined himself to be known as "the other Affleck" now though as this movie is yet another piece of evidence that the acting talent is clearly stronger with Casey in that family.
Gone Baby Gone is not to be missed. I can't think of a single thing that the movie makers didn't get right. The mood is dark and engaging, the writing is fantastic as the story and characters are developed quickly and deeply, the music is as haunting as the story, and several of the acting performances were among the best of the year. I was left thinking about this movie for a long time afterward.
See this movie and do it soon. This is a nearly flawlessly told story and is the best movie of 2007 in my books. (I'm gonna have to redo that best of 2007 list.)
Gone Baby Gone is on my 'Watch It' list and I give it a full value rating of $10
