Gone Baby Gone

In his second great performance of the year, Casey Affleck is exceptional as Patrick, a private investigator hired to help find a missing girl in Boston. As he and his partner and girlfriend (Michelle Monaghan) investigate her disappearance, they get much more than they bargained for and discover some dark secrets about the child’s family and the authorities trying to help them. This is the directorial debut of Ben Affleck, who just might have an impressive career behind the camera ahead of him. His film works as a gritty depiction of Boston’s underbelly and a fantastic mystery. Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, it’s actually a better movie than the highly acclaimed adaptation of his Mystic River. I know Affleck has to be a decent director because he got a great performance out of Amy Madigan. Interested to see what Ben Affleck does next. There’s talk that some work with old pal Matt Damon might be in his future.