Like ‘Mystic River’, ‘Gone Baby Gone’ is set in Boston, Massachusetts, the city where Lehane grew up. Affleck plays a private detective who is asked by a local family to investigate the disappearance of a 4 year old girl. His leads take him and his partner throughout the tough neighbourhood, dealing with the scummiest of the scum. Also excellent is Amy Ryan as the young girl’s mother, a lowlife junkie.

I don’t want to spoil the film by giving any more details than are necessary but I’ll just say that it flows along nicely and always has you questioning, even after the end. This well told story earns 6 crumbs out of 10 from me.

The real life bandit and hero, Jesse James, is played by Brad Pitt but the real star of the film is Casey Affleck who plays his eventual murderer Robert Ford. Affleck’s restrained portrayal of Ford’s character development is simply fantastic. Oscar-worthy, even.

The supporting cast are also impressive, particularly Sam Rockwell, Paul Schneider, Garret Dillahunt and my perennial favourite Zooey Deschanel who only appears in the last act. In fact it’s a measure of the film’s quality that I had forgotten about her absence until she finally showed up. It’s not often that something makes me forget about Zooey! 7 crumbs out of 10.