Movie Review : Gone Baby Gone - REVISITED (2007)

I believe it is pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus who said: ''You cannot step in the same river twice.'' It's always dangerous to revisit something you love after a couple of years. Maturity, perspective and experience can alter something you once loved, so that it never feels the same.  The fiction of Dennis Lehane changed my life and GONE BABY GONE, the movie, represents the tipping point where I started reading everything he penned that I could find. How did Ben Affleck's first movie hold up to father time and copious amounts of crime fiction? Rather well, I have to say. Rather well.

Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angela Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) are private detective in a blue collar Boston neighborhood, specializing in missing people. They are hired to ''augment'' the ongoing investigation on the disappearance of 4 year old Amanda McCready (Madeline O'Brien) by her aunt, since some people in the neighborhood just flat out don't talk to the police. Patrick and Angie are damn good at their job, but all they can find on Amanda's trail is a series of incongruous dead ends. Their investigation in stopped in their tracks, but Patrick and Angie's influence start where the police's stop, so they are brought back to Amanda's case over and over again, until something's gotta give.

Originally, GONE BABY GONE is the fourth book of a six novels series. Dennis Lehane wrote them so that you can read them out of order *, yet have a special kick out of reading them in order. It's the only thing that struck me in my 2nd viewing of Ben Affleck's GONE BABY GONE ** is that the movie doesn't have the same flexibility as the novels and that GONE BABY GONE is the worst volume to introduce the magnificent support cast. All-time great supporting character Bubba Rogowski (Slaine) *** is rather quiet and the one scene starring Devin Amronklin (Michael K. Williams) was useless. Sure, it was nice for me to have winks at the novel like this, but this loyalist quirk weighted down the movie a little bit. The storyline of GONE BABY GONE is strong enough to exist outside a rigid setting. 

Otherwise, it's hard to find something to dislike about GONE BABY GONE. Say what you want about Ben Affleck, but he's not in the business of mass production. He shoots movies because he loves to do it and that he believes in the material's potential. There is a great attention to detail to GONE BABY GONE. A lot of close ups on faces and on physiques of the working class people. Atmosphere is communicated through supporting actors and extras, I thought it was a really dynamic way of establishing a setting without going over-the-top with the stylish camera effect. There is an organic feeling to GONE BABY GONE, as if it was something that grew out of a neighbourhood on its own, not unlike the Kenzie/Gennaro novels. In that regards, Ben Affleck did a tremendous job in keeping the spirit of the narrative alive through moviemaking choices. I'd go as far as saying it's one of the most accurate novel adaptation I can think about.

I could not watch GONE BABY GONE with the same candid outlook I had in 2007. I knew where the characters were going, what they were thinking and what they were about to do. But you can't fault anybody for a job well done on a labour of love, not even Ben Affleck. Maybe he can't act ****, but he is a smart and passionate filmmaker who understands the subtle nuances in the material he's adapting and Dennis Lehane novels are all about subtle nuances and wisecracking characters who can feel the momentum shifts in the air. I was very pleased that GONE BABY GONE survived the test of time so well. It is still a perfect gateway into the tremendous universe of Dennis Lehane's characters.

* I read them 4-1-3-5-2-6. Can't be more out of order than that.

** Third, really. I watched it two times in one month when it first came on DVD.

*** As a Bubba purist, I find Slaine too happy to play this role. He lacks unpredictability.

**** OK, he really can't act.