Ben Affleck makes his directional debut with “Gone Baby Gone.” He not only directed this film, but co-wrote the screenplay adapted from Dennis Lehane’s book. This drama is a story of a child from South Boston that goes missing and the local police and two hired private investigators work together to find her.

Helene McCready’s (Amy Ryan) 4 year old daughter Amanda disappears from her home. While the local police are hopeless trying to find a lead and their hope keeps decreasing especially as time goes by, Amanda’s aunt Beatrice (Amy Madigan) takes matters into her own hands. She hires a local couple Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan). These two don’t usually specialize in missing children but she hopes that these two locals could made more segue way with the tough Catholic neighborhood the family lives in than Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and Nick Poole (John Ashton), the two cops assigned to the case. To add to the desperation to find this child, Captain Jack Doyal (Morgan Freeman) of the local police department vows to personally help find Amanda, mostly due to the recent death of his own daughter. After meetings with drug dealers, wrong turns, lies, and deceit, a tremendous strain is put on Patrick and Angie’s relationship. There is a difference of opinions and a decision needs to be made. 

Ben Affleck has been mostly known for his acting career. After his screenplay for “Good Will Hunting” in 1997 it is no surprise to see him writing again, but what I was surprised about was him taking on the role of director as well. It is not uncommon for a screenwriter to direct their own film, but this was Affleck’s first try. I must say I was impressed with his work. His directing style is like some other known directors and he likes to let the actors ad lib. He lets them run with the lines and sees what happens. For a movie like this with the setting being in Boston, it seems to work really well, especially since working with his brother Casey. Ben Affleck does tend to pick projects taking place in the Boston area probably due to the fact he was raised there, but nonetheless he can successfully add director to his resume. I think he will improve his screen-writing and acting by having directed a film and we should see good things from him in the future.

Amy Ryan’s performance for this film landed her many award nominations including an Oscar and Golden Globe for best supporting actress. Even though she did not win either of these, she did win many other lesser known awards. Her performance did no go unnoticed. She played a grief-stricken, drug addict mother. She had to take herself to dark places to become Helene McCready. Her portrayal of a mother who cared more about herself than her child was not easy to conquer and neither was the Boston accent that she nailed. Job well done.

Overall, the film was very good. I recommend this film to anyone interested in a good story with real endings. This isn’t your average everyone lives happily ever after story where everything turns out how you would wish the world would work and not how it would happen in reality. I think the movie was good. With Ryan’s stellar performance and Ben Affleck’s new talent I give it 4 stars.

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