The Comeback Kids

MADISON, WI - In the sporting world, Boston has emerged as the epicenter of greatness. The Red Sox erased a 3 games to 1 deficit Sunday night by giving the Indians a beantown beatdown. They now take on the Colorado Rockies tonight in the World Series. And earlier that afternoon the Patriots, led by GQ QB Tom Brady, obliterated the Miami Dolphins 49 - 28. The Pats are as perfect as the creases in Mr. Brady's post game Hugo Boss suit.

Boston College meanwhile, has climbed to #2 in college football and faces a tough challenge Thursday night against #8 Virginia Tech. And Celtics fans are anxiously awaiting the beginning of the NBA season as their newly formed tri-fecta of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce look to dominate an already shaky Eastern Conference.

The city has also enjoyed a resurgence on the big screen. With last year's The Departed, director Martin Scorsese relocated his New York state of mind to the mean streets of Boston. The move provided a perfect playground for moral dilemmas and hidden agendas, and in turn earned Mr. Scorsese his biggest box office bank yet along with Oscar validation.

Now, native son Ben Affleck steps behind the camera and directs the fall season's first truly great film, Gone Baby Gone. Adapting the Dennis Lehane novel about a missing child and the investigation that ensues, Affleck and co-screen writer, Aaron Stockard, drench this crime story with barbed wire sharp dialogue and character complexities that have been absent in most films of late. We knew Mr. Affleck could write, but who knew that he possessed such natural filmaking qualities. His cinematic technique ratchets up the tension during the film's more harrowing scenes, but lowers the volume for some really nice character moments that reminded me of the immediacy and authenticity of Affleck's Oscar winning script, Good Will Hunting.

Younger brother Casey, whose strength in understatement is fully recognized with this material, gives what amounts to a star-making performance. He portrays a private investigator, who, with his professional and personal partner (Michelle Monaghan), are contacted by the missing girl's aunt and uncle to help in the investigation. They reason that the neighborhood would be more willing to talk to them then the cops. They're right. Along for the ride are Morgan Freeman as Chief of the Missing Child's Unit whose seen one to many abductions end badly, and Ed Harris as the detective assigned to aid Affleck and Monaghan.

But the real star here is Ben. His camera captures the beautiful grit of a closed-knit community where procedural revelations aren't nearly as captivating as the reasons for which they're revealed.