Gone Baby Gone

Ben Affleck steps behind the camera and makes an admirable directorial debut with his adaptation of Dennis Lehane's mystery novel about a pair of young private detectives (Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan) hired to look for the missing daughter of a junkie mother (Amy Ryan, who earned an Oscar nomination for her performance). It's a PI movie with the feel of an indie drama, set in the working-class neighborhoods of Boston and filled with characters who feel like they've lived on the streets all their lives, and defined by an ambiguity the film refuses to simplify. Ben creates a vivid sense of place and neighborhood, and his little brother Casey is well cast as the local Boston guy turned missing-persons detective, driven by a sense of moral justice that is put to the test as he discovers more to the story. It's a low-key performance that helps define the quiet complexity of the story and the moral world around it. Morgan Freeman co-stars as the police captain who heads the Crimes Against Children unit, Ed Harris and John Ashton are the investigating police detectives who grudgingly let the young PIs into their case, and Amy Madigan and Titus Welliver co-star.

Ben Affleck is just as low key in his commentary track with co-screenwriter (and old friend) Aaron Stockard, almost mumbling (you may need to turn up the volume) as he quietly discusses details of the production, the choices he made in both writing and directing, and especially the performances and the efforts to capture the atmosphere and quality of the neighborhood. They also chime in with optional commentary on the deleted scenes, which include an extended opening with a terrific introductory scene that was deleted to get into the story more quickly and an extended ending with voice-over narration that was wisely cut from the finished film. "You live with your choices, and that's what Patrick is doing, living with his choices," remarks Ben on the commentary, and he realized that the film didn't need the voice-over to make that clear. The final image says it all. The featurettes "Going Home: Behind the Scenes With Ben Affleck" and "Capturing Authenticity: Casting Gone Baby Gone" are too brief to really dig into any details. Also available in Blu-ray format.