Gone Baby Gone (Cert 15) Cinema Review

10:10pm Monday 14th July 2008

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GONE Baby Gone is a riveting tale of corruption and twisted love, sharply scripted by Ben Affleck and longtime friend Aaron Stockard, with tour de force performances from a stellar cast led by the director's brother.

Affleck and cinematographer John Toll capture the rough and tumble of Boston by shooting on location, employing local people in minor roles to give the peripheral characters a gritty authenticity.

It is in one of the city's poorest neighbourhoods that little Amanda McCready vanishes without trace from her bedroom.

The girl's mother, Helene, makes a television appeal for her safe return while police swarm the scene, led by Captain Jack Doyle.

Frustrated by the lack of police progress, the girl's feisty grandmother Bea enlists the services of private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro to make their own inquiries.

They have contacts in the city's underbelly, who would never share information with the police.

As they gather evidence about the missing child's final hours, Patrick and Angie forge an uneasy alliance with renegade cop Detective Remy Bressant (Harris) and his partner Detective Nick Poole (Ashton).

Together, the quartet exposes a web of deceit and lies which appears to implicate everyone involved in the case.

8/10 A riveting tale