His 24th film as a director, Mystic River is a haunting masterpiece that shows all the trademarks of Eastwood's remarkable directing style. And Sean Penn, who won the Best Actor Oscar, leads an all-star cast in a moving performance as Jimmy Markum, a father mourning the death of his murdered daughter.

Growing up in a rough area of Boston, Jimmy Markum, Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins) and Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon) spent their days playing on the street. Nothing much out of the ordinary ever happened, until one tragic decision drastically altered the course of their lives forever. Twenty Five years later, the three are reunited through tragedy once again when Jimmy's 19 year old daughter is brutally murdered on her way home.

Detective Sean Devine, Jimmy's childhood friend is assigned to the case and with the help of his partner (Laurence Fishburne), the two men try to unravel the seemingly senseless crime at the same time as staying one step ahead of Jimmy, who is driven by an all-consuming rage to find his daughter's killer.

Caught up in the chaos that ensues is Dave, now a lost and broken man who is fighting to keep his childhood demons at bay. As the investigation creeps closer to home, Dave's wife Celeste becomes consumed by suspicion and fear while Jimmy's wife, Annabeth, encourages her husband to carry on his hunt for the killer and prepares her family to weather the storm.

Mystic River is a thought-provoking piece of quality cinema, with powerful performances from Penn and Robbins in particular; the entire cast however are a credit to the script and bring the story vividly to life.
Winner of two Golden Globes and two Oscars, Mystic River is a film that will stay with you long after the movie is over.

Eastwood doesn't flinch from exploring many challenging issues, making it one of the riskiest, yet most riveting, films to date and with a brooding musical score, composed by Eastwood himself, and some truly stunning cinematography, Mystic River is a truly hypnotic masterpiece.