Stone (2010)

A convicted arsonist looks to manipulate a parole officer into a plan to secure his parole by placing his beautiful wife in the lawman's path.

Director:

John Curran

Writer:

Angus MacLachlan

Stars:

Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich, Robert De Niro

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert De Niro	...	Jack
Edward Norton	...	Stone
Milla Jovovich	...	Lucetta
Frances Conroy	...	Madylyn
Enver Gjokaj	...	Young Jack
Pepper Binkley	...	Young Madylyn
Sandra Love Aldridge	...	Miss Dickerson
Greg Trzaskoma	...	Guard Peters
Rachel Loiselle	...	Candace
Kylie Tarnopol	...	Young Candace
Bailey Tarnopol	...	Young Candace
Madison Tarnopol	...	Young Candace
Peter Gray Lewis	...	Warden (as Peter Lewis)
Sarab Kamoo	...	Janice
Richard Murphy	...	Guard #1

Storyline

Parole officer Jack Mabry (Robert De Niro) has only a few weeks left before retirement and wishes to finish out the cases he's been assigned. One such case is that of Gerald "Stone" Creeson (Edward Norton), a convicted arsonist who is up for parole. Jack is initially reluctant to indulge Stone in the coarse banter he wishes to pursue and feels little sympathy for the prisoner's pleas for an early release. Seeing little hope in convincing Jack by himself, Stone arranges for his wife, Lucetta (Milla Jovovich), to seduce the officer, but motives and intentions steadily blur amidst the passions and buried secrets of the corrupted players in this deadly game of deception.

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Plot Keywords:

character name as title | parole | arsonist | parole officer | deception | 

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Taglines:

Some People Tell Lies. Others Live Them.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexuality and violence, and pervasive language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 October 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

La revelación

Filming Locations:

15 E Michigan Ave, Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$22,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$75,766, 10 October 2010, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,796,024, 19 December 2010

Company Credits

Production Co:

Millennium Films, Mimran Schur Pictures, Mimran Schur Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Edward Norton spent time with real prisoners in the Southern Michigan Correctional Facility. He adopted his character's accent and cornrow hairstyle from the prisoners. Norton inserted phrases he heard from the prisoners into the dialogue.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Young Madylyn: Look at me.
Young Jack: Hmm?
Young Madylyn: I'm not standing for this.
Young Jack: Say what?
Young Madylyn: You keep my soul in a dungeon. I'm leaving.
Young Jack: [runs up the stairs, grabs his daughter out of bed, and holds her out the window] If you leave me, I'll throw her.

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Connections

Referenced in Maltin on Movies: No Strings Attached (2011)

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Soundtracks

Stone
Musical Modules
Written by Jon Brion
Published by You Can't Take It With You Music (ASCAP)

User Reviews

A Vegetarian Tuning Fork

Greetings again from the darkness. Psychological Thrillers have long been my favorite genre of film. The best ones cause us to examine our own thoughts while analyzing the actions of others we probably don't quite understand. Unfortunately, most scripts fall short in complexity and stimulation, and leave us with a half-empty character study. Director John Curran (The Painted Veil) and writer Angus MacLachlan (the superb Junebug) offer up a just-miss.

Robert DeNiro plays a parole officer on the brink of retirement. He is the guy that lives and works by the book to suppress his inner demons of which we get a glimpse in the film's opening. Despite the horror, he and his wife stay married for decades ... the relationship is built on a false worship of scripture and plenty of nerve-deadening booze. DeNiro decides to finish out his current files, one of which belongs to Edward Norton. He is an 8 year convict, serving a sentence for a crime that ended with the death of his grandparents.

The real fun begins when Norton enlists his schoolteacher wife, played by Milla Jovovich, to invade DeNiro's cold facade. So really what we have is: DeNiro trying not to feel anything, Norton trying to pull one over on DeNiro either by himself or with his wife, and Jovovich trying desperately to obey her husband while playing evil mind and body games with DeNiro. This is the point I like to call "the table is set".

Unfortunately, none of these story lines really go deep. The best seems to be Jovovich and DeNiro, but even that falls short of real grit. So much potential here and the actors all seem up for anything. It's just the script lets them off easy.

Frances Conroy is excellent as DeNiro's wife whose had her soul locked away. We never really get the full scoop on the Norton/Jovovich connection, but by the end, that doesn't seem to matter. Is the film watchable? Yes. Could it have offered more deliciously evil interaction between these characters? Absolutely.