#13 "Gone Baby Gone" (2007)

"Gone Baby Gone," Ben Affleck's first film as a Director, was the beginning of his critical rehabilitation after his early to mid 00's slump. It sure doesn't feel like a first effort, though. Affleck gets nuanced, three-dimensional performances out of a superb cast and shows rock-solid confidence in his storytelling, letting those performances and an excellent script drive the film, knowing when to get up-close-and-personal with his camera and when to hang back.

Based on the Dennis Lehane novel of the same, "Gone Baby Gone" begins with the unexplained disappearance of a toddler from her mother's apartment in a wrong-side-of-the-tracks Boston neighborhood. The search for three-year-old Amanda McCready, takes a young detective (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend (Michelle Monaghan) into a larger, darker and more tragic world of corruption, addiction and violence where the road to Hell may very well be paved with good intentions.

Everyone - and I mean everyone - is excellent here, from the heavy-hitters like Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman to the painfully realistic hot mess of a mother played by Amy Ryan. Casey Affleck is perfect as a young man out to find the truth and do the right thing, who is almost physically unable to back down even when finding the truth and doing the right thing may be two entirely different things.

Michelle Monaghan is also excellent playing what could have been a thankless role, as Affleck's romantic and investigative partner, with subtlety and depth of feeling. This is a couple that has real chemistry and Affleck and Monaghan make us feel the love and affection both characters have for each other, even when their relationship is strained to breaking point.

What really makes this film work so damn well is the authenticity and texture of its characters and its settings. Written, directed and starring three men who really know and care about Boston, and filled with real Boston neighborhoods and neighborhood people, "Gone Baby Gone" is terrifying because of quite how plausible it all is. The script may follow a classic (and excellently well-crafted) noir storyline, but from start to finish this story feels like it could - and would - happen with these people and in these places. The reality of the stakes for these characters makes the suspense tangible and gives the brief bursts of violence shocking power and real emotionally impact.

I really like Affleck's second movie, Boston-based heist thriller "The Town," but "Gone Baby Gone" is the more powerful movie. After the excellence of "Argo" I can't wait for Ben Affleck the Director to get back to Beantown.