Movies like Mystic River (Mystery, thriller, crime)

nitrogen · 04-05-2010 12:52pm #1

After seeing Shutter Island, I looked up Dennis Lehane to discover this gem of a movie I wasn't aware of. Solid performances from all the leads and an intriguing story.

Can you recommend other films within the mystery, thriller, crime genre that weren't in the blockbuster spotlight?

Thanks

Julesie · 04-05-2010 12:57pm

Well there is the Ben Affleck directed, Gone Baby Gone.

Also based on a Denis Lehane novel. It's a solid movie although I prefered the book having read that first.

johnny_ultimate · 04-05-2010 1:00pm

I'm guessing you've seen Gone Baby Gone, which is based on another Lehane novel? I'd actually say it is a superior film to Mystic River, and a surprisingly powerful directorial debut from Ben Affleck. Similar kind of small-scale, character driven thriller, but it has one hell of a payoff - a genuinely heart-wrenching, polarising conclusion.

nitrogen · 04-05-2010 1:18pm

Yip, I've seen Gone Baby Gone. That was also a nice surprise.

Otis Driftwood · 04-05-2010 1:28pm

Memento.

Not really like Mystic River but it falls into the mystery/crime/thriller bracket and is an outstanding little movie.

You have propably already seen it but LA Confidential is a movie that holds up to repeated viewings too.

slave1 · 04-05-2010 1:59pm

I always thought Blood Work was very underrated

kraggy · 04-05-2010 2:51pm

Arlington Road.

Murder in the First.

Primal Fear.

FortuneChip · 04-05-2010 2:56pm

Insomnia was another good one by Christopher Nolan, not quite as good as Memento, which is just brilliant to watch. But Robin Williams plays a really interesting character. Not the biggest Hillary Swank fan though

The Secret Window is another one that could be put in the same genre as Mystic River.

Agree on LA Confidential, really good movie, great cast!

niallon · 04-05-2010 4:32pm

+1 on Blood Work, maybe Eastwood knocked it out of the park a little low scale and under the radar but I still enjoyed it

speedboatchase · 04-05-2010 4:57pm

Although I haven't seen the movie adaptation yet, I loved Lehane's book and their movie adaptations and I'm currently reading The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson. Similar kind of tense, mysterious thriller and I'm sure you'd enjoy it - although pick the book up first

johnny_ultimate · 04-05-2010 5:56pm

speedboatchase wrote: »

Although I haven't seen the movie adaptation yet, I loved Lehane's book and their movie adaptations and I'm currently reading The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson. Similar kind of tense, mysterious thriller and I'm sure you'd enjoy it - although pick the book up first

Yeah that actually would be along the same lines - the focus is very much on character development, and the central mystery itself keeps you involved. The film is pretty much exactly the same as the book - to the point where I thought it was pretty redundant having read the book a week before - but it is a solid adaptation, and worth watching if you don't intend to read the book.

In terms of more general thrillers, Mesrine is one of the better recent ones, especially part one, Killer Instinct. Excellent set pieces and a wonderful lead performance by Vincent Cassell. The second film isn't quite as compelling, but overall it is one of the more engaging crime stories in a while. A Prophet and The Beat that My Heart Skipped are another two French crime stories worth checking out (both by director Jacques Audiard), again they stand out as having fantastic scripts and performances.

The Korean film the Chaser is significantly darker than any of the other films mentioned so far, but I'd also recommend that. It twists thriller/serial thriller conventions by having one of the main mysteries solved very early on, and then goes down a very unique path (kept ambiguous to avoid spoilers!). It is very blackly comic and occasionally violent, but the story of a policeman increasingly frustrated with his case is quite small-scale and interesting.

bullpost · 04-05-2010 8:57pm

This is an old one so maybe you haven't seen it yet:

Chinatown

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/

and also We Own The Night:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/

artielange · 04-05-2010 9:11pm

Dont know if it was because I saw this first or that I don't enjoy Robin Williams as a serious actor, the original Insomnia

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119375/

The Heist

Training Day

The Departed

as mention LA Confidential an Memento

Valmont · 04-05-2010 11:46pm

I watched Chinatown for the first time earlier after having heard about it here. I would definitely recommend it. I had a sleep after I watched it and I had Noir dreams!

nitrogen · 05-05-2010 2:22pm

I also recommend the already mentioned:

We Own The Night
Memento
Insomnia
The Departed

Thanks for the other recommendations.

fontanalis · 05-05-2010 4:08pm

artielange wrote: »

Dont know if it was because I saw this first or that I don't enjoy Robin Williams as a serious actor, the original Insomnia

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119375/

The Heist

Training Day

The Departed

as mention LA Confidential an Memento

I actually preferred the Insomnia remake, but the original is worth checking out.

Killme00 · 05-05-2010 4:26pm

LA Confidential
Arlington Road
The Corruptor
Narc
Eastern Promises

or you could watch 'the Wire' which Lehane and Pelicanos wrote several epsiodes for.

Chinatown, Point Blank and the French Connection are great movies too

05-05-2010 10:40pm

The following are all decent mystery/suspense thrillers.

Cape Fear (1962/1991)
Heat (1995)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
The Game (1997)
One Hour Photo (2002)
Identity (2003)
Zodiac (2007)

Recommend them all especially Heat, The Usual Suspects and Indentity.

DazMarz · 05-05-2010 10:49pm

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex

German crime-thriller involving the actions of the infamous Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Faction) of the 1960's/70's. The tale of this groups bloody rise and spectacular fall is told in a breakneck speed, with the action switching at various times from Germany to Italy to the Middle East. It is like a fictional thriller, but it is all terrifyingly true, as these left-wing urban guerillas fight for ''the cause'', initially garnering support from the German people, but eventually instilling terror and fear amongst the German populace. Bruno Ganz (Adolf Hitler in Der Untergang) is superb in his supporting role of the German politician/authority figure fighting the good fight to bring the R.A.F. down.

Superb film, highly recommend it.

Bringing Out The Dead

One of Martin Scorsese's forgotten gems. This criminally underrated drama film follows the life of a near-burnt out New York paramedic (Nicolas Cage) as he attempts to save the lives of others while keeping his own life from unravelling completely. Set in and around Hell's Kitchen, it is the colourful characters that breathe additional life into the already frenetic script. Cage's paramedic partners (John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore) are all equally dedicated to the job but all equally flawed in some ways. Heart-wrenching at times, blackly comic at others, and always screaming past at 100mph, this may not be Scorsese at his best, but it is a damn sight better than most ordinary films!

15 Minutes

Eddie Flemming (Robert de Niro) is New York's most famous police detective; Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns) is a lowly FDNY Fire Marshall; Robert Hawkins (Kelsey Grammer) is the oily news anchor out to get a scoop any way he can ("If it bleeds, it leads!"); Emil and Oleg are Czech and Russian (respectively) bad boys out to get their 15 minutes of fame in America. Oleg obsessively wants to be Frank Capra, and videos every moment of his and Emil's life in the USA, including murder, assault and robbery. Flemming and Warsaw are closing in, while Hawkins is closing in for the scoop of the year. And the two Slavic crooks will do anything to get their 15 minutes.

Another underrated gem, that whips past at breakneck pace and has some brilliant blackly comic moments.

Revolution9 · 14-09-2010 7:39pm

I've just finished reading Mystic River. Can anyone on here who read it tell me if the film is a faithful adaption, and worth watching?

e_e · 14-09-2010 8:52pm

I highly recommend the Korean film Memories of Murder, best murder mystery I have ever seen.

rednik · 14-09-2010 10:39pm

Try "No way out", with Kevin Costner, "The Game" with Michael Douglas.

patch · 14-09-2010 11:09pm

The Square. Great little aussie flick well worth checking out.

Basq · 14-09-2010 11:13pm

Does Sleepers count?

epad.ie · 28-04-2011 6:26pm

"the game" with Michael Douglas is another fine performance from Sean penn who is in Mystic River. Its a good mystery/thriller.

. The river wild who also has Mystic river star Kevin Bacon in it is another great one.

Paddy Samurai · 28-04-2011 9:23pm

nitrogen wrote: »

Can you recommend other films within the mystery, thriller, crime genre that weren't in the blockbuster spotlight?

Thanks

You might have already seen them but if not .................................Blue Velvet , Blood simple and Fargo are movies well worth checking out.

Also if you can get a copy check out One false Move with Bill Paxman.Its a top notch Film IMO

Here is a crime movie that lifts you up and carries you along in an ominously rising tide of tension, building to an emotional payoff of amazing power. On the very short list of great movies about violent criminals, "One False Move" deserves a place of honor. It is a great film - one of the best of the year - and announces the arrival of a gifted director, Carl Franklin.

Yet no words of praise can quite reflect the seductive strength of "One False Move," which begins as a crime story and ends as a human story in which everything that happens depends on the personalities of the characters. It's so rare to find a film in which the events are driven by people, not by chases or special effects.