Gone Baby Gone

Delayed due to its unfortunate parallels with the McCann case, Gone Baby Gone unites Ben Affleck for his directorial debut with brother Casey starring as private investigator Patrick Kenzie.

When young Amanda goes missing, her family’s desperation drives them to hire Kenzie and his partner Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) to augment the police investigation. Amanda’s drug-addicted mother doesn’t provide much in the way of help, while detective Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and police captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) also appear to have their own agendas.

Gone Baby Gone is a triumph for the Affleck brothers. It’s fair to say that Casey’s brief career as a lead is already overshadowing that of his brother, but Affleck senior shows tremendous accomplishment in his directorship and his co-written screenplay is twisted with moral ambiguity. Although a sense of self-worthiness occasionally overwhelms the film’s focus, Gone Baby Gone is a resonating, powerful experience.