百年50部英文燒腦電影賞析:[27]Mystic River 神秘河

Three boys, Jimmy Markum, Sean Devine and Dave Boyle, play hockey in a Boston street in 1975. Spotting wet concrete, the boys commence writing their names into it when a car pulls up with two men, pretending to be police officers. One of the men gets out and berates the boys for their actions, and tells Dave to get into the car. The men are pedophiles, and hold Dave captive and sexually abuse him for four days, until he escapes.
Twenty-five years later, the boys are now grown and, while they still live in Boston, have drifted apart. Jimmy（Sean Penn）is an ex-con running a neighborhood store，while Dave（Tim Robbins）is a blue-collar worker, still haunted by his abduction. The two are still neighbors and related by marriage. Jimmy's 19-year-old daughter Katie（Rossum）is secretly dating Brendan Harris, a boy Jimmy despises. She and Brendan are planning to run away together to Las Vegas.
Katie goes out for the night with her girlfriends and is seen by Dave at a local bar. That night, Katie is murdered, and Dave comes home with an injured hand and blood on his clothes, which his wife Celeste（Harden）helps him clean up. Dave claims that he fought off a mugger and “bashed his head into the concrete”, and possibly killed him. Sean（Bacon）, who is now a detective with the Massachusetts State Police, investigates Katie's murder. In a subplot Sean's pregnant wife Lauren has left him. Over the course of the film, Sean and his partner, Sergeant Whitey Powers（Fishburne）, track down leads while Jimmy conducts his own investigation using his neighborhood connections. Sean discovers that the gun used to kill Katie was also used in a liquor store robbery during the 1980s by “Just Ray” Harris, the father of Katie's boyfriend. Harris has been missing since 1989, but Brendan claims he still sends his family $500 every month. Brendan also feigns ignorance about Ray's gun but Sean believes that it was still in the house. Sergeant Powers suspects Dave as a possible perpetrator because he was one of the last people to see Katie alive. He also has a wounded hand and even though he continues to tell his wife he got it while being mugged, he tells the police a different story — soon Jimmy becomes suspicious of it. Dave continues to behave strangely, which upsets his wife to the point she is afraid he will hurt her. While Jimmy and his associates conduct their investigation, Dave's wife eventually tells Jimmy about Dave's behavior and the bloody clothing and her suspicions.
Jimmy and his friends get Dave drunk at a local bar. When Dave leaves the bar, the men follow him out. Jimmy tells Dave that he shot “Just Ray” Harris at that same location for ratting him out and sending him to jail. Jimmy informs Dave that his wife thinks he murdered Katie and tells Dave that he will let him live if he confesses; if he does not he will kill him. Dave repeatedly tells Jimmy that he did kill someone but it was not Katie: he beat a child molester to death after finding him having sex with a child prostitute in a car. Jimmy does not believe Dave's claim and threatens him with a knife. When Dave finally admits to killing Katie thinking he can escape with his life, Jimmy kills him and disposes of his body in the adjacent Mystic River.
While Dave is being killed, Brendan（having found out about his father's gun during questioning）confronts his younger brother Ray Jr. and his brother's friend John about Katie's murder He beats the two boys and threatens to kill them if they do not admit their guilt, but he is almost shot by John. Sean and Powers arrive just in time to stop it.
The next morning, Sean tells Jimmy that the police have Katie's murderers - who have confessed. She was killed by Brendan's brother and his friend John O'Shea in a violent prank gone wrong: The kids got hold of Just Ray's gun and saw a car coming which happened to be Katie. John aimed the gun just to scare her but the gun went off by accident. The car veered onto the curb and Katie got out and ran into the park. Silent Ray and John pursued her so she wouldn't tell anyone. The beating Katie received was from Silent Ray who had a hockey stick. Once she was beaten, John shot her again, killing her. Sean asks Jimmy if he has seen Dave, because he is wanted for questioning in another case, the murder of a known child molester. A distraught Jimmy thanks Sean for finding his daughter's killers, but says “if only you had been a little faster” Sean asks Jimmy if he's going to “send Celeste Boyle $500 a month t00”. Sean reunites with his wife and his daughter Nora, after apologizing for “driving her away” Jimmy goes to his wife, Annabeth（Linney）and confesses. She comforts him and tells him that he is a king and that kings always make the right decision. At a town parade, Sean sees Jimmy, and mimics shooting him, to let Jimmy know he is watching.
1975年，三個男孩兒，吉米·馬庫、西恩·迪瓦恩、大衛(wèi)·博伊爾，在波士頓街頭玩曲棍球。發(fā)現(xiàn)水泥是濕的，于是他們開始在水泥上寫自己的名字，這時一輛車載來了兩個人，他們假裝成警察。其中一個男子下車阻止了男孩們的行為，并讓大衛(wèi)上了車。這兩個男人都是戀童癖，他們按住了大衛(wèi)，并強奸了他四天，直到他逃脫。
二十五年后，男孩們?nèi)缃褚验L大，雖然他們還住在波士頓，但已經(jīng)疏遠(yuǎn)。吉米（西恩·潘飾）有前科，在附近開了一家商店，大衛(wèi)（蒂姆·羅賓斯飾）是一名藍(lán)領(lǐng)工人，一直受當(dāng)年被綁架的事所困擾。他倆一直是鄰居，而且還結(jié)了親。吉米的19歲女兒卡蒂（羅瑟姆飾）偷偷和吉米鄙視的男孩布倫丹·哈里斯約會。她和布倫丹打算私奔去拉斯維加斯。
一天，卡蒂和她的女友們晚上出門，在當(dāng)?shù)氐囊患揖瓢纱笮l(wèi)看見了她們。就在那天晚上，卡蒂被人謀殺，而大衛(wèi)拖著受傷的手回家，他的衣服上有血，他的妻子塞萊斯特（哈登飾）幫他清理。大衛(wèi)說他打敗了歹徒，并把他的頭向水泥猛撞，可能殺死了他。西恩（貝肯飾）現(xiàn)在是馬薩諸塞州警局的一名警官，在調(diào)查卡蒂的謀殺案。還有，西恩懷孕的妻子勞倫已經(jīng)離開了他。
在這部電影的進(jìn)行過程中，西恩和他的搭檔，警長懷特·帕沃斯（菲什伯思飾）一起追查線索，吉米利用鄰居的關(guān)系單獨進(jìn)行調(diào)查。西恩發(fā)現(xiàn)，用來殺死卡蒂的那把槍，也是卡蒂男友的父親，杰斯特·瑞恩·哈利斯20世紀(jì)80年代在搶劫一家酒吧時使用的。哈利斯自1989年以來一直失蹤，但布倫丹說，一直以來他每月會給自己的家人寄500美元。布倫丹還佯裝不知道他父親的槍，但西恩認(rèn)為，槍仍然藏在家里。警長帕沃斯懷疑大衛(wèi)是兇手，因為他是最后看到卡蒂活著的人之一。而且他的手還受了傷，他還告訴他的妻子，他遭到了搶劫，他給警方講述了一個不同的故事，很快吉米也開始懷疑大衛(wèi)。大衛(wèi)的行為很奇怪，這讓他的妻子很煩亂，她怕他會傷害她。在吉米和他的伙伴進(jìn)行詢問的時候，大衛(wèi)的妻子終于說出了大衛(wèi)的行為、血衣和她的懷疑。 吉米和他的朋友在當(dāng)?shù)鼐瓢砂汛笮l(wèi)灌醉。當(dāng)大衛(wèi)離開酒吧時，他們跟了出去。吉米告訴大衛(wèi)，在同樣的地方，因為出賣了他，他向哈利斯開了槍，送他坐牢。吉米告訴大衛(wèi)，他的妻子認(rèn)為他謀殺了卡蒂，如果他承認(rèn)，他會讓他活著，如果他不承認(rèn)他會殺了他。大衛(wèi)一再告訴吉米，雖然他殺了人，但殺的不是卡蒂。當(dāng)他看到一個戀童癖和一個雛妓在車?yán)镒鰫酆?，他把那個戀童癖打死了。吉米不相信大衛(wèi)的表白，拿刀威脅他。當(dāng)大衛(wèi)為了逃生，終于承認(rèn)殺了卡蒂時，吉米殺了他，并把他的尸體沉入了附近的神秘河。

大衛(wèi)被殺時，布倫丹（已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了他父親審問期間的槍）與他的弟弟小瑞恩和他弟弟的朋友約翰就卡蒂的謀殺案進(jìn)行對證。他打了兩個小男孩，并威脅道如果他們不承認(rèn)自己有罪，就殺了他們，但他差點兒被約翰開槍擊中。西恩和帕沃斯及時趕到阻止了它的發(fā)生。
第二天早上，西恩告訴吉米，警方已經(jīng)找到了承認(rèn)殺害卡蒂的兇手。她是被布倫丹的弟弟和他的朋友約翰·歐希亞打死的，是暴力惡作劇惹的禍。孩子們拿著杰斯特·瑞恩的槍，碰巧看到卡蒂的車來了。約翰的目的只是為了拿槍嚇唬她，但槍走火了。汽車歪向路邊，卡蒂下車，跑進(jìn)了公園。瑞恩和約翰追了過去，他們不能讓她告訴任何人。卡蒂被瑞恩的曲棍球棒擊中。她一被擊中，約翰就再次向她開了槍，殺死了她。西恩問吉米，他是否看到過大衛(wèi)。因為他有另一個案件要問他，一個知名的戀童癖謀殺案的兇手。吉米心煩意亂，他感謝西恩找到了殺他女兒的兇手，但他說，“你們要是再快一點就好了。”西恩問吉米，是否他要繼續(xù)每月寄500美元給塞萊特斯·博伊爾。為趕走妻子表示道歉后，西恩和他的妻子以及女兒諾拉團(tuán)聚了。吉米去向他的妻子安娜柏斯（琳妮飾）懺悔。她安慰他，并告訴他，他是國王，國王總是做出正確的決定。在鎮(zhèn)上游行時，西恩看到了吉米，于是模擬向他射擊，讓吉米知道他在看他。