STONE – TORONTO REVIEWS
Memorandum
TO:
STONE Distribution List
FROM:
Overture Films National Publicity
DATE:
September 13, 2010
RE:
STONE Review/Blog Memo #4
Below please find reviews from the Toronto screenings of STONE. We
will continue to circulate reviews as they become available. Entries in
bold indicate the most recent.
THE STAR-LEDGER
By Stephen Whitty
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/movies/index.ssf/2010/09/toro
nto_film_festival_day_one_crime_and_magic.html
Also haunting, but in a far different way, is “Stone,” which had its
first public screening tonight (and gets its release from Overture in
October). Directed by John Curran (who also did the overlooked and
very fine “The Painted Veil”) it’s a story that seems to be a prison
drama – and then feints, and goes in another direction.
Starring Edward Norton (oddly, the star of that other “Illusionist”) as
a convicted arsonist and Robert De Niro as a by-the-book case
worker for the parole board, it looks as if it’s going to be a nasty little
noir (particularly when Norton aims his dirty sexy wife – Milla
Jovovich – right at De Niro’s bed).
But then, in a wild second-act development, Norton finds religion
behind bars – not a faked, get-saved-and-get-out-of-jail-free religion,
either, but a true Saul-on-the-road-to-Damascus moment. And what
seemed to be a movie about crime and punishment, becomes an
examination of spirituality, and of a real question: Is it our specific
beliefs that give us strength? Or is it the mere act of believing?
Anchored by two fine performances (including, not just the usual
fine chameleonlike turn by Norton, but a real resurgent one from a
back-in-the-game De Niro) it’s a powerful, provocative drama. And
proof that, however sleek and shiny its new home is, the Toronto
Film Festival still hasn’t lost sight of its mission: Movies that move
you.
IFC.COM
By Steven Saito
http://www.ifc.com/news/2010/09/stone-reviewed.php
To say "Stone" requires faith - both from its audience and as a
recurring theme - would be an incredible understatement. That it
made this agnostic care would be another.
Already established to some as the "Edward Norton in cornrows"
movie, it's a serious drama that I entered with understandable
skepticism, whether it's seeing the Millenium/Nu Image logo and
wondering if this was just another paycheck job for Robert De Niro
or if Milla Jovovich can play someone of this earth - the answer to
those questions is no, and sort of, but then that's where "Stone"
becomes something special.
It's during Jack Mabry's (De Niro) first interview with prospective
parolee Gerald "Stone" Creeson (Norton) that Jovovich's Lucetta is
called an "alien" by her lover Creeson and despite not appearing
onscreen until later, one might agree knowing "The Fifth Element"
actress is playing the part. Weeks from retirement, Mabry appears to
think Creeson's cornrows are pulled to tight, yet learns himself the
strange power Lucetta holds when she injects herself into his life on
the outside, pleading on him to release her husband on countless
voicemails, in the prison parking lot, and ultimately, when Mabry
succumbs to her advances, her apartment.
Lucetta is indeed an other, one who takes immense pleasure in the
pursuit, but has little interest in the end result, something both
Mabry and Creeson know very little of since they're both serving out
life sentences in different ways. Mabry chose his incarceration in the
country with a wife (Frances Conroy) that doesn't love him and going
into the city only for a thankless job that rarely holds surprises; the
film shows early how Mabry sunk himself into this rut, but it is a rare
opening scene that sends shockwaves through the rest of "Stone," so
I won't spoil it here. Creeson, on the other hand, came by his time in
prison the old fashioned way, helping to burn down his
grandparents' house while they were inside.
However, Creeson embraces spirituality in the pen, which isn't
necessarily the key to an early release, but the start of a search for
something more profound that actually complicates matters as
Lucetta pleads for her husband's parole while her husband begins to
question his culpability. Like an angel and a devil sitting on his
shoulder, Lucetta and Creeson plunge Mabry into a moral quandary
and if "Stone" were simply about whether prison actually has the
ability to rehabilitate its denizens, it would be a thoughtful
examination.
Yet director John Curran and writer Angus MacLachlan are after
something far more elusive in meditating on the nature of evil in a
way that would make it compelling bookend with "No Country for
Old Men," reversing that film's emphasis on the crimes to the
perspective of the punishment received. "Stone" may not be
considered quite as accomplished as the Coen brothers' effort, but
that likely depends on whether you appreciate Curran and
MacLachlan being more overt in asking the question
Certainly, it is no less provocative, thanks in large part to its trio of
actors. Contrary to what the poster reads, Jovovich is the film's main
attraction, putting her husky voice and withering frame to use as a
slippery slope of ethical backpedaling for De Niro's Mabry. She is one
of the most memorable femme fatales in some time, made all the
more interesting by the fact Jovovich's slinky charms have rarely
been tapped in such a way.
De Niro, meanwhile, is gifted with a character with a rich inner life
that so many of his recent films haven't allowed for. He remains a
curmudgeon here, but one that has earned it not by holding vomiting
babies a tad too close or dealing with an unwanted in-law, but by
being asked to be something more than a dispassionate observer
and De Niro comes alive in the role, with his considerable gravitas
used for far more than selling the prestige of the movie.
As for Norton, he plays the title character of the film, but it's a part
that largely resembles a MacGuffin. In spite of his southern-fried
accent and prison yard swagger, Norton impressively takes an
outwardly ostentatious character and lets him fade into the
background slightly as the man whose fate is being debated, but is
only a part of a far larger debate. "Stone" isn't just interested in
spurring that discussion, it deserves it.
COMINGSOON.NET
By Edward Douglas
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/torontonews.php?id=69733
John Curran's drama Stone (Overture – Oct. 8) took us by surprise
because of its unique tone and the fact that it is a straight drama in
which the most powerful scenes involve Robert De Niro and Edward
Norton sitting in a room talking, the latter playing the inmate trying
to convince the former to release him from jail. Even with two such
prestigious stars, we were more blown away by Milla Jovovich as
Norton's sexpot wife who will do anything to get her husband out of
jail, including seducing De Niro. The film's distinctive subdued and
ambient tone is what captivated us the most, even though it is
sometimes a bit too esoteric for its own good, especially in dealing
with spirituality. That aspect of it reminded us of the drama Bee
Season and we expect this one will be just as polarizing. We'll have
an interview with Curran, Norton and Jovovich closer to release.
ScottFeinberg.com
By Scott Feinberg
http://scottfeinberg.com/stone
Last night I attended the world premiere of John Curran‘s “Stone”
(Overture, 10/8), which stars Edward Norton, who previously worked
with Curran on “The Painted Veil” (2006), and Robert De Niro, who
previously worked with Norton on “The Score” (2001). It’s hard to
place the film into a genre, as it has elements of drama, horror, and
thriller films. If it was shot in black-and-white instead of muted color, I
might well regard it as a film-noir, as it comes complete with a
fatalistic protagonist (actually two) and a spider-woman who’s as
enticing as any double-crossing dame I’ve ever seen.
Norton plays “Stone,” a man who has served eight years of hard time
on a 10 to 15 year sentence for participating in the murder of his
grandparents, and is now holding out hope for getting off on
probation so that he can return to his sexy wife ((Milla Jovovich). De
Niro, meanwhile, plays Jack Mabry, his probation officer who is
nearing his retirement date and appears to be living a by-the-book,
God-fearing life with his wife (Frances Conroy). Over the course of the
film, which is highlighted by a number of riveting conversations
between Stone and Mabry in the latter’s office, we discover that both
men are capable of doing things that nobody who knows them would
believe.
The actors in this film are so good that they make any criticisms of the
film that I’ve read — including a grossly unfair review in The
Hollywood Reporter — seem petty and misguided. Norton gives a
performance for the ages, completely transforming himself physically
(wait ’til you see the cornrows) and verbally (he’d blend right in with
the real prisoners who you see on MSNBC’s “Lockup” specials), and
bringing a certain humanity to a man who would be easy to dismiss
altogether. Just as importantly, De Niro is De Niro again — really
acting, rather than cashing in on projects that are unworthy of his
incomparable talents — and the audience greatly appreciated it,
actually cheering after one scene in which his character verbally
desecrates Norton’s just as he did to his adversaries in roles of yore. I
suppose it takes one great actor to bring out the greatness in another.
indieWIRE
By Eric Kohn
http://www.indiewire.com/article/de_niro_versus_norton_john_curra
ns_stone/
A bizarre, messy tale of religious philosophy and guilt, John Curran’s
“Stone” has several unique parts that never entirely fit together.
Robert De Niro stars as Michigan-based parole officer Jack Mabrey, an
unnervingly cold man with inner demons to spare. His latest subject is
Stone (Edward Norton), a convicted arsonist up for parole. Mabrey
finds himself drawn into a dangerous liaison with the prisoner’s
troublemaking wife (Milla Jovovich), willfully subjecting himself to a
destructive situation. His motives continually unclear, Jack provides
the movie with enough of a tantalizing enigma to make for an
engaging viewing experience in individual moments—but the bigger
themes never come together.
Curran (“The Painted Veil”) apparently puts all his efforts into the
haunting first act, which establishes a marvelous sense of mystery
embedded in the movie’s design. A fleeting prologue finds early
versions of Jack and his wife (later played by Frances Conroy)
embroiled in a marital dispute that leads Jack to threaten the life of
their own child. As the soundtrack grows overwhelmed by hissing
insects and a whispering breeze, Curran creates a palpable sense of
discomfort that carries through the story even as it staggers about in
search of a purpose. Flashing forward to the brink of Jack’s retirement,
Curran closes in on the professional burnout visible in Jack’s eyes.
Having spent his days controlling the fate of broken men and
women—both the prisoners and his spouse—he appears to struggle
with finding a means of personal satisfaction. The church, a major
presence in his private life, apparently doesn’t do the trick.
Curran artfully establishes the figure of a broken man in ambitious
cinematic terms. But once the story (written by Angus MacLachlan,
initially as a play) pits De Niro against Norton, “Stone” turns into a
confusing morality tale. Sitting in Jack’s office over the course of
several meetings, the men face off in tight exchanges that form the
narrative backbone of the movie. Norton’s character, a seemingly
malicious schemer intent on ensuring his release, unleashes rapid-fire
dialogue about atonement for his past sins. Speaking in a harsh
Southern accent, Norton’s trashy persona is almost too nutty for his
own good, and takes some time to credibly settle into the role. Still,
it’s a focused, calculated performance—although it’s never quite
apparent what he’s focused on.
At a certain point, “Stone” takes a sharp turn into film noir territory
with the threat of blackmail. The criminal sends his lovesick wife to
seduce Jack, a feat she accomplishes with remarkable ease. Jack’s
unconvincingly fast susceptibility to Jovovich’s sultry femme fatale
takes the movie a few more steps beyond reality and into the realm of
a psychological nightmare (not to mention a monumentally awkward
sex scene between Jovovich and De Niro).
Despite the odd tone, the heart of “Stone” is an obvious set-up with
no place to go. The dialogue suggests all sinners are created equally—
“How long do you have to keep judging someone for one bad thing
they’ve done?” asks Stone—but since Curran makes it clear from the
beginning that Jack himself is no angel, his extramarital affair never
feels like it complicates the issues at hand. It’s a dark, murky picture
from the first frame to the last.
As a thriller, “Stone” has loads of potential and not enough
momentum to pull it off. It does, however, maintain a consistent
redeeming factor: De Niro, putting on a legitimately unsettling
performance, delivers his best work in years as a man growing
increasingly exasperated by an inability to express his fears. Even so,
he can’t salvage the movie from its muddled depictions of justice and
spirituality. Curran obviously has a lot of ideas, but fails to stick with
one that works.
CINEMATICAL
By Erik Childress
http://www.cinematical.com/2010/09/10/stone-review/
The bulk of Stone, the film, is as much a mystery as the mysteries
people of faith are challenged with from time to time. Presented in
some respect as a lingering con game and equally meditative on man's
connection to commit evil deeds, Stone is never what you are
expecting it to be while watching it, though it is profoundly seriously
about the issues it raises. Instead of a thriller, we're presented with a
character study of two men of intersecting beliefs with women whose
earthly pleasures in this life directly correlate to what they think might
happen in the next. Nearly suffering a mid-life crisis of its own midway
through as it sulks itself deeper into material some may describe as
Bresson-ian, it never has a crisis of faith and allows three very
interesting performances to come shining through the center and
plenty to ponder in the end.
Robert DeNiro is Jack Mabry, a prison
psychologist in a 43-year marriage to the long-suffering Madylyn
(Frances Conroy) - one step removed from being Allison Janney's
catatonic mate in American Beauty - who reads her Bible while
allowing her husband his daily vices of drink and golf. On the verge of
retirement, Jack gets a new case in Gerald Creeson, or "Stone"
(Edward Norton) as he prefers to be called. Convicted as an accessory
to arson and murdering his grandparents, Gerald is stand-offish about
his chances for parole, saying out loud anything that can already be
read in his file. There's no sign that Jack cares for this young man one
way or another but he'll be damned if he's going to let him dictate
how he's going to do his job in these final days.
In their talks, Stone mentions his primary reason for getting freedom
and that is his wife, Lucetta (Milla Jovovich). He describes her as being
from another world, mostly in the sexual realm, but is not just passing
along extreme fancies. Gerald means to entice Jack for an eventual
meeting that he has Lucetta eagerly trying to set up on the outside.
Continually calling his home and showing up unexpectedly, Jack is not
having any of it and appears on to their game. Repression and
aggression cannot be sustained forever, though, and as Jack
unprofessionally converses with the convict's wife, the convict himself
begins to discover spirituality from a book or two as each see their
priorities shift in unexpected terms.
The path that Stone leads and the very one that may entice you into
the theater follows the promise that it may be another twisty mystery
where not everything is as it seems. That is certainly an
understatement that Stone can live up to since it is anything but.
Where the film may actually stray from its more fascinating path is in
allowing the audience to believe that definitive answers to their
questions are coming. What would a film about the nature of sin and
its judgment be though with such concrete resolutions?
Angus MacLachlan's screenplay, in opposition to the ways of
understanding love in his last script, Junebug, confronts the middle
ground of evil. Just where does the line begin in the eyes of the wicked
and to those that castigate their actions? Gerald loses a decade of his
life for being in the vicinity of a double murder and then covering it up.
It is when he finally sees blood spilled before his eyes that he is
sparked towards a life of wanting to understand his purpose here. Is
Jack's evaluation of Gerald or any prisoner in any way tainted by his
own misgivings as a human being? A shocking opening prologue does
not exactly endear us to Jack. Because we are witness to it with a lot
of blanks left to be filled, we are less forgiving to any sort of
redemption in store for him while the tide begins to shift on Gerald
and his newfound insights into the human condition. Unless, of
course, it is just one big con as well.
The truth certainly lies in the three performances that force each actor
to practically become different people in every scene due to our
perception of them. Norton, no stranger to the effect of prison on
characters (Primal Fear, American History X), opens with such a
complete original that it's a shame when the story neuters him
midway through his religious rebirth. It's a testament to Norton,
though, that we can accept that rebirth as genuine where so many
other films would choose to keep us on edge as to his sincerity.
It was nice to see DeNiro try to create a center for Everybody's Fine
last year. It is doubly interesting to see him not just show up for any 'ol
script that winds up on his doorstep these days and attempt to
externalize a character with some real demons again. Just exerting his
authority over Gerald as he tries to walk out of his office is more
genuine passion than we have seen from one of the greats in a while.
And yet who would ever imagine the day when DeNiro would be
upstaged by Milla Jovovich?
Certainly one of the luckiest actresses thanks to the semi-successful
Resident Evil franchise and a couple of convenient marriages, Jovovich
has never earned much praise aside from being an object of beauty. In
Stone she easily delivers her best performance since her little-seen
turn opposite Adrien Brody in the ventriloquist comedy, Dummy.
Lucetta is a very tricky character. Aside from confirming our fantasies
that our attractive grade school teachers were really freaks at home,
Lucetta is a lost little girl who is nevertheless in control of her desires.
The way she manipulates Jack over the phone by shifting to whispery
tones is sexier than any photo spread Jovovich has ever participated in
and is a lynchpin moment for a performance we have to watch very
carefully.
John Curran's work on We Don't Live Here Anymore and The Painted
Veil has been rather uninspiring, bordering on the tedious. With Stone
he has found a script where the overriding ideas trump the pacing and
the unpleasantness of its characters. Many may centralize their focus
on the showdown between DeNiro and Norton, picking up where they
left off as adversaries in 2001's The Score, but the women play just as
important a part as opposites. Each with their unwavering views of
God are a crucial influence not just in their own behavior but for their
significant others to eventually rebel against. And a capper scene
between mother and daughter is a notable bookend to answering
many of the questions about Jack's involvement as a husband and
father in the decades we do not see. Stone is thrilling for what we're
left to ponder afterwards more than any suspense inherit in the
interaction during it. The occasional misleading music suggests we
might be headed for a powder keg third act where justice and tragedy
coalesce. There are answers to be found in Stone, but they may be
within our own beliefs and prejudices.
SCREEN DAILY
By Tim Grierson
http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/latestreviews/stone/5018044.article
Thick with moral ambiguity – too thick, unfortunately – Stone proves
to be a character drama that confuses heavy brow-furrowing for an
insightful dissection of several ethically slippery individuals. Top-lined
by Robert De Niro and Edward Norton as, respectively, a parole officer
and an incarcerated arsonist, Stone takes its cues from its brooding
stars, but it’s impossible to fully lose oneself in the performances once
the narrative surrenders to the filmmakers’ heavy-handed
examinations of guilt, redemption and the need for spiritual
transcendence.
The film’s subtle take on a familiar tale of infidelity may lack the clear
emotional payoffs that viewers might be expecting.
Overture, which acquired US rights last year, plans on a limited release
domestically on October 8, no doubt hoping that Stone’s highpowered actors and sombre tone will attract adult audiences during
awards season. But the film’s subtle take on a familiar tale of infidelity
may lack the clear emotional payoffs that viewers might be expecting,
and likewise mediocre reviews could dissuade those on the fence to
simply wait for DVD, which would seem to be a quick destination for
this well-intentioned misfire.
Nearing retirement, Michigan parole officer Jack (De Niro) starts
working with Gerald (Edward Norton), a prisoner nicknamed Stone
who’s been in jail for eight years for arson in connection with the
slaying of his grandparents. Like so many felons before him, Stone
insists to Jack that he’s changed and deserves parole, but to help his
cause he recruits his wife Lucetta (Milla Jovovich) to intervene.
Seduced by this beautiful woman, Jack soon begins an affair with
Lucetta that he tries to keep hidden from his wife of more than 40
years, Madylyn (Frances Conroy).
Returning to contemporary drama after 2006’s period literary
adaptation The Painted Veil, director John Curran demonstrates that,
just like with his unfaithful-couples drama We Don’t Live Here
Anymore, he is a filmmaker very much interested in the inner lives of
his protagonists, almost at the expense of the actual story he’s telling.
Consequently, while Stone could easily have been a pulpy, sexy drama
about cheating husbands and dangerous temptresses, Curran aims to
peel away his characters’ actions to see the fears and needs that are
driving their decisions.
Angus MacLachlan’s first produced screenplay since his superb script
for Junebug shares with that earlier film a curiosity about small-town
life, specifically the traditions and religious conservatism that inform
so much of the behaviour in Middle America. Unfortunately, Stone
lacks Junebug’s precise characters and wonderfully observed details
that gave that film such feeling. In their place, Stone has an offbeat,
wilfully muted romantic triangle in which all three participants are
inscrutable to the point of opacity, each person apparently swallowed
whole by his or her own set of miseries. And while there is some
sensitive rendering of the importance that religion brings to people’s
lives, the filmmakers overdo Jack’s spiritual emptiness by filling the
movie’s soundtrack with snippets of a religious radio host whose
reactionary broadcasts Jack always has on in the car.
Curran and MacLachlan deserve credit for subverting audience
expectations when Jack and Lucetta begin their affair, never making it
clear whether Stone instructed his wife to bed the much older man or
if Lucetta has her own reasons for sleeping with Jack. Along the same
lines, Stone intentionally withholds clear-cut explanations for why Jack
engages in an affair with Lucetta, instead merely hinting at how lost he
feels. In addition, when Stone during the film professes to have
experienced a religious awakening, it’s impossible to know if it’s in
part a ruse to win his parole.
Unfortunately, these teasing character ambiguities don’t build to
anything intellectually or emotionally satisfying. Quite the contrary,
they lead to a finale that includes both overheated dramatic
showdowns and rather banal “poetic” metaphorical flourishes that fail
to do justice to the thematic questions raised earlier in the film.
Both leads – appearing together for the first time since the 2001 heist
film The Score – throw themselves into their roles, but each actor has
his own problems with the material. De Niro fails to make Jack’s
grizzled resignation poignant or haunting, while Norton occasionally
oversells Stone’s caged-rat intensity. But at least the men are given
meaningful parts to play: Jovovich strains to make her sex-kitten role
plausible, and Conroy is simply wasted as Jack’s long-suffering wife,
practically erased by the other three characters’ endless soulsearching and struggle.
VARIETY
By Peter Debruge
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117943491.html?categoryId=31&
cs=1&ref=ssp
Aided by a pair of dead-on lead performances from Robert De Niro
and Edward Norton, director John Curran takes the high road with a
Jerry Springer-ready "My girlfriend slept with my parole officer!"
scenario, elevating "Stone" beyond the "Primal Fear" redux suggested
by its cast (Norton once again plays a prisoner attempting to
manipulate the system). Though nearly sabotaged by the ridiculous
sexual subplot at its center, this soul-searching drama works best at
the character level, couching insights about sin and forgiveness under
the guise of conventional genre entertainment. With this cast, "Stone"
should gather greenbacks on the specialty circuit.
"Stone" opens with an unsettling domestic scene, as corrections
officer Jack Mabry (seen here as a young man, but later played by De
Niro) responds to his wife's divorce request by threatening the life of
their infant daughter. Cut to the present day: The couple has
somehow carried on the charade of their loveless marriage. Though
the characters reveal no memory of that pivotal confrontation, the
cloud of Mabry's actions hangs over the rest of the film, implying a
capacity for genuine evil.
Ironic, then, that this man who has never atoned for his own sins
should find himself a parole officer, playing confessor to repentant
criminals. With retirement just days away, Mabry insists on finishing
up his last few cases, including a white-trash type named Gerald
Creeson (Norton), aka "Stone," who torched his grandparents' house
after an accomplice killed the old couple -- an "In Cold Blood"-worthy
crime for which Creeson shows no regret.
Creeson badly wants out of prison, and he's willing to say or do
whatever it takes to get early release, even if it means talking his g.f.,
Lucetta (Milla Jovovich), into seducing the stoic old cop. It's a
development that all but destroys "Stone's" much-needed sense of
plausibility; the idea of using sexual favors for leverage is cheap
potboiler stuff and feels out of character for all the players involved.
Mabry may be a chauvinist, but he's no dummy, and Creeson may be a
dummy, but he's not that masochistic.
The more interesting relationship is the one between Mabry and his
wife (a cowed Frances Conroy), which seems to exist in a state of
suspended dysfunction. To his credit, Curran downplays the more
melodramatic aspects of the script, avoiding the operatic in favor of a
more introspective approach. The script reps another closely observed
Middle American portrait from "Junebug" scribe Angus MacLachlan,
confirming him as a writer with a novelist's keen sense of character.
The actors have ample opportunity to dig deep here, with De Niro
playing a bottled-up monster who's all the more frightening for what
he doesn't let show. Curran augments this inner disturbance by
enlisting docu-trained d.p. Maryse Alberti ("The Wrestler"), who uses a
more unbalanced shooting style around Mabry, and sound pros
Eugene Gearty ("The Aviator") and Skip Lievsay ("No Country for Old
Men"). The latter pair helps texture the film with a sophisticated,
mostly subjective aural wallpaper, overcrowded with the white noise
of Mabry's world -- a mix dominated by evangelical Christian talkradio.
Religion factors prominently in both the Mabrys' lives and Creeson's
get-out-of-jail scheme (the inmate investigates an obscure faith called
Zukangor, hoping it will help with his parole, only to be blind-sided by
an unexpected, honest-to-God religious experience behind bars).
Mabry has worked the parole beat long enough to spot the con men
among these convicts, so it's only natural that he should suspect
Creeson's conversion. And by casting Norton (who appeared in
Curran's last film, "The Painted Veil"), the director instantly sows
distrust for those who saw the actor's career-making turn as a
scammer in "Primal Fear."
The trouble is, though we can tell what Curran is going for when
Mabry starts to melt down, the director doesn't calibrate the tension
and tone correctly, which compromises each of De Niro's outbursts -from the opening one (tipped oddly off-balance by the decision to
highlight a wasp on the scene's periphery) to a drunken, dark-alley
confrontation near the end of the film. De Niro convincingly
demonstrates his character's short temper and capacity for violence,
though much of what the film does to provoke him rings false,
especially Lucetta's seduction -- a misuse of Jovovich, who clearly
wants to give a more serious performance than "Stone" is ready to
allow.
Lured to Michigan by tax credits, the pic benefits from its fresh Middle
American backdrop. Combined with the unique sound design, Jon
Brion's score helps to give the drama an unsettling psychological
intensity.
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
By Kirk Honeycutt
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film-reviews/stone-filmreview-1004113661.story
TORONTO -- Premiering in Toronto less than two months after the
demise of Overture Films, "Stone" reminds you not only how willing
that short-lived indie distributor was to take risks but how easy it was
for it -- or for anyone -- to miscalculate those risks in an indie market
that is exceedingly dicey. "Stone" stars Robert De Niro and Edward
Norton, so one can anticipate critics and adult filmgoers will take
notice. Plus the story deals with corruption, dark impulses and moral
bankruptcy -- so, again, one imagines it will at least be thoughtprovoking.
Ennui-provoking is more like it.
There is not a credible
moment in this overly calculated melodrama. And though Jon Brion's
score -- a steady beat that feels less like music than an unnerving noise
from a nearby room -- labors to produce tension among the
characters, the actors deliver uneven performances. De Niro trudges
through the dramatic muck in workmanlike fashion, and Norton's
portrayal of a white-trash sociopath is all tricked out with nervous
mannerisms, vocal distortions, a weird accent and startling
hairdos.
While not likely to attract those looking for a conventional
thriller, the film misses the art house mark, too. Anemic box office
should greet "Stone" when the film opens Oct. 8 in Los Angeles and
New York before a national rollout.
Maybe there needs to be a
moratorium on stories about a protagonist about to embark on one
last mission or one last crime or one last anything. For an audience
just knows one monumental screw-up is heading his way.
De Niro
plays Jack Mabry, a parole officer reviewing, yes, one last case before
his retirement. This involves Norton's Gerald Creeson, a sniveling
convict who wants to be called "Stone." If that name doesn't send up
red flags, then his abundant self-pity and disturbing lack of remorse
for his participation in his own grandparents' murders should.
Stone
plays his trump card right away. That would be his sexually voracious
wife Lucetta (played by Milla Jovovich as if she wandered on to the set
from a porn shoot). The couple plays this card in as blatant a manner
as possible; nonetheless, Jack falls for it, or can't resist Lucetta's
charms, or misplaced his parole officers' manual at a crucial moment.
Who the hell knows, but if you buy this plot turn, you probably also
respond to those e-mail queries from dying widows who want to give
you $5 million.
The movie actually begins with a flashback to Jack's
early years as a married man to tip you off that he nearly committed a
crime as heinous as Stone's. In another movie, this might have been an
effective way to contrast two men on opposite sides of the law who
are more alike than a superficial glance would indicate. But "Stone" is
so signposted like this all the way through that the movie does all the
work for a viewer: You hardly need to keep track of such things.
Now
in present day, Jack is undergoing a spiritual crisis. You know this
because -- more signposts -- he listens in the car to nonstop religious
talk shows. But none of this sinks in. He and his long-suffering wife
(Frances Conroy) are a faded, lackluster couple who clutch their Bibles
and attend church with a hopelessness they no longer even
question.
Everything you think might happen does, so it all comes
down to what two unstable men will do when one springs the other
from prison as a "favor" to the convict's wife. Here the movie becomes
oddly vague with a dramatic climax whose origin is unclear and
outcome uncertain. Not that a viewer is invested in any of this
anyway.
Angus MacLachlan's screenplay, which John Curran
directed, supposedly is set in suburban Detroit, but everything feels
slightly Southern, including Norton's peculiar accent.