Word: mysticism
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...Best Supporting Actor field is almost as low-intensity; out of the five nominees, Mystic River’s Tim Robbins has had the lion’s share of awards momentum, and few think that he’ll be denied a statue. Charlize Theron has a lock on Best Actress: she played against type six ways to Sunday, and Roger Ebert has led the same “Best...acting...ever” critical charge that helped propel Halle Berry to her Monster’s Ball Oscar two years ago. And if Return...
...Will this be the most boring Oscars in history? There are hard favorites this year in every one of the big six categories—and I can’t remember the last year when that was the case. It’s hard to imagine Mystic River’s Sean Penn being upset for Best Actor, by Bill Murray or by anybody else; Penn’s been nominated four times, so he’d be due even if Academy voters didn’t already see him as his generation?...
...MYSTIC RIVER...
...Clint Eastwood proved anything in Unforgiven, it was that actors don’t have to be showy to be effective. Too bad that nobody told Sean Penn, who brings his full actor-y powers to bear in Mystic River, Eastwood’s latest effort. Too often, the film feels less like the well-crafted whodunit at its center and more like an freshman acting class: Penn thrashes and grimaces, Tim Robbins acts numb, and Marcia Gay Harden wobbles her voice so much that you wonder if she’s standing on the San Andreas Fault...
...pound home a point. "The Greeks embraced tragic drama," he says. "We are a society dedicated to the outlawing of tragedy, and we outlaw it at our peril." (He's exaggerating a bit - this year's other Oscar contenders include fine modern tragedies like Clint Eastwood's melancholy Mystic River.) Movies like House spring from "the ancient tradition of telling heartbreakingly sad stories, but hugging each other afterward," he says. "Audiences can recognize themselves and their own doubts." He won't speak of any personal tragedy - a question about his youth yields only a curt pointer back to the movie...