Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Directed by Ben Affleck. Starring Casey Affleck, Ed Harris, Michelle Monaghan, John Ashton, Amy Ryan, Titus Welliver, Amy Madigan, Edi Gathegi, Michael K. Williams, George Carroll, Matthew Maher, Mark Margolis, Madeline O’Brien. [R]

A little girl has been kidnapped, and with the working-class Boston neighborhood being anything but helpful in the police investigation, her aunt and uncle hire an “insider,” a local P.I. played by Casey Affleck, to start his own inquiries, leading to a series of high-stakes crises, the most difficult being one of the conscience. Compelling pulp mystery-thriller dominated by sordid provincial insight and atmosphere; it’s clear that debuting director Ben Affleck knows these locations and character types like the back of his hand, and the film turns into the rare whodunnit-style procedural where the plot and solution become secondary to the mood, color, and aesthetics (which is just as well, since certain particulars of the case are hard to swallow). Strong performances from a well-chosen cast, with Casey a stoic yet conflicted center, and Ryan a knockout in the attention-grabbing role of the girl’s hard-living mother, anything but a model maternal figure/victim. Ben also co-scripted with Aaron Stockard, adapted from the same-named novel by Dennis Lehane.

85/100