Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Directed by Ben Affleck, and based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, this is a brilliant, extremely gritty thriller that’s also a moving domestic drama. 

Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan play a couple who agree to investigate a missing girl in a poor part of Boston. They do so in parallel with the police, who are led by Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman. 

There are plenty of surprises as the plot twists and turns, but the resolution is satisfying and none of the threads collapse under scrutiny – as tends to happen with lesser storylines. 

One criticism: a lot of the dialogue is difficult to make out.