Friday, October 15, 2010
PHOTOS |
COMING SOON|
EXAMINER.COM FILM ARTICLES
||HOME
Friday, October 15, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW
Stone
Casting The First Stone, All Sins Intact
Robert De Niro as Jack Mabry and Edward Norton as Stone in John Curran's
psychological drama "Stone", now in additional theaters in the U.S.
Overture Films
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Friday, October
15, 2010
John Curran delves into his familiar terrain of moral self-investigation and
reflection in his latest film "Stone", which opened today in Northern
California, including San Francisco. Mr. Curran succeeds greatly thanks to
solid performances from Robert De Niro as veteran parole officer Jack Mabry, and
Edward Norton, as Stone, a prisoner up for parole who is hoping for freedom
after an eight-year stint for murder.
Right from the start sin is fashionable in all quarters. Such human
frailty takes shape in varied dimensions. In one of the film's weakest
refrains, radio vocals harping on the question of sin are overdone,
redundant and heavy-handed. Mr. Curran's film would have been more
streamlined without this electronic Greek chorus. The actors are
sufficiently equipped to convey feelings of entrapment, dilemma and duplicity,
without creatures of artifice inserting themselves.
Madylyn (Frances Conroy) is an ever-vigilant presence in Jack's life.
Devout in her faith, Madylyn wears the spiritual pants that her spouse Jack
finds an uneasy fit. Meanwhile Jack, hunched over as if weighted
down by life's trials, sits in judgment of Stone, whose wife Lucetta (Milla
Jovovich) wants to get her husband out on parole. Ms. Jovovich plays
Lucetta as an Eden-like temptress, an Eve without the apple, natural and sincere
to the core in her intentions. Ms. Jovovich could have gone with a
nudge-nudge, wink-wink approach but instead stays within herself, mostly
avoiding flamboyance and extravagance for Lucetta. She isn't half bad in
the role. Yet it's Ms. Conroy's work in "Stone" that stands out.
That said, "Stone" is essentially a play rather than a movie.
Angus Maclachlan's script is a talk piece with isolated pieces
of conversation intersected by flashbacks and blips of conscience filmed in
black backgrounds as spontaneous jolts of truth. The visual style is a
trait of Mr. Curran, who did similar types of reveals in "We Don't Live Here
Anymore". In "Stone" each of the key players is buried in isolation,
looking to plug in and connect to something tangible to attain balance, clarity
and meaning in their lives. All are selling something. Some are
selling snake oil, others their souls.
Mr. Curran's film isn't as predictable as you might expect; there are a couple
of interesting curveballs thrown at the audience. Some will view "Stone"
as unrealistic, even gimmicky, but the situations are as authentic and fabled as
anything in true life. (Do you doubt that? Just consult your local
newspaper or think about the moral pickles of any number of politicians and celebrities
over the last year or two.)
"Stone" doesn't tell us things we don't already know, but we get to appreciate
the suspense of the journey taken by the people in the quiet Michigan locations
in which the film is set. Mr. Norton's southern accented-title character
is often inaudible, but there's a sharpness and smart-alecky entertainment value
in his performance as Stone. True, Mr. Norton has played characters with a
dangerous, steely edge before ("Primal Fear", "American History X"), though
there's more depth and charisma on display here.
Mr. De Niro plays Jack as a vulnerable character, a man wrestling with himself
and the meaning of the world around him. One of the most crucial scenes in
"Stone" is the very first one, and it informs the film's final few shots.
Whether audiences will care entirely about these characters however, remains to
be seen. I found myself caring about the path that one of these troubled
souls takes, and every soul that walks uneasily through "Stone" is troubled, if
not in serious trouble.
With: Enver Gjokaj, Pepper Binkley, Sandra Love Aldridge, Rachel Loiselle.
"Stone"
is rated R by the Motion Picture
Association Of America for strong sexuality and violence, and pervasive language.
Be warned: there is a rather graphic episode of violence that may be too intense
for some viewers. The film's running time
is one hour and 45 minutes.
FOLLOW
SUBSCRIBE TO THE POPCORN REEL MOVIE
REVIEWS RSS FEED
