At the Movies: Grim Mystic River propelled by superb all-round acting

The film is grimly stark from the opening frames, when two young Irish-American boys watch their friend being abducted by a bogus cop and priest.

Then it quickly fast-forwards 25 years to bring all three together again against the backdrop of a poor, meat-and-potatoes Boston neighborhood.

Played by Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon, the trio all have gone their separate ways, but reunite when an unthinkable tragedy befalls one of them.

They don't have much in common anymore -- Penn is a reformed hood who now runs a grocery store; Robbins is a withdrawn shell of a man who took the ride out of town as a youngster; and Bacon is a homicide detective.

In his interpretation of Dennis Lehane's book, Eastwood uses three perfectly cast leads to expose the tortured psyches of the characters. One has lost a daughter; another his sanity, or close to it; and the third any chance of a normal married life.

Penn, in particular, is brilliant as the former gangster -- a mixture of fire and ice who has his finest moments at the movie's darkest point, during a mob-style grilling of one of his boyhood friends.

Robbins, shambling and shuffling his way through the proceedings, is both a pitiful character and possibly a repulsive one, depending on the ebb and flow of the plot.

His performance, since Oscar talk already is being bandied about, is not at all far behind, Penn's.

Another terrific performance comes from Marcia Gay Harden.

She plays Robbins' wife, an already paranoid woman pushed to the edge when she suspects her husband might be lying about killing a mugger after a late night out at a bar.

Her growing distrust, exacerbated by her husband's (understandably) dysfunctional behavior, constitutes a truly fine acting turn among the other stellar contributions.

Eastwood puts his own indelible stamp on the movie, opting for understatement (including a harrowing scene at a morgue), and making the most of close- ups on all his leads, including actress Laura Linney as Penn's second wife.

The flick in a nutshell: A thoroughly absorbing, depressing and powerful tragedy with an ending that, although open to debate, is spot-on.

Mystic River, rated R for harrowing content rather than gore, is scheduled to play through this week at Marco Movies.

Read previously reviewed movies at the Eagle's marcoeagle.com Web site.

Quentin Roux reviews locally playing movies weekly for the Eagle.