Stone [HD]

Misunderstood (a look at the film itself)
'Stone' was not received well critically. It was marketed as a prison drama in which Norton and De Niro tensely face off. It isn't. Once you get over that fact and accept the movie on its own terms, your mind and heart can be opened by its powerful reflections.

I believe great cinema works best as a mirror. This describes 'Stone'; not all viewers will see the same story. Some will interpret Norton as a lying sociopath, while I saw him as a man who maintains the upperhand through real--though accidental--spiritual enlightenment. Actually, guilt and enlightenment are the two main undercurrents in the characters' stories. Norton seeks his enlightenment through a religion that helps him to shut his fast mouth and listen; De Niro seeks escape from his "honest and upright" lifestyle through sexual enlightenment. De Niro's life dissolves while Norton's evolves, and the process is nothing short of compelling. You may not expect the end result.

Some interesting...

Great Performances
Robert DeNiro plays a parole officer about to retire and Edward Norton is cast as a convicted arsonist, trying to convince him that he should get an early release from prison in this gripping "noirish" thriller from director John Curran.

Rather than "convince," the wily Norton is, actually, trying to "manipulate" DeNiro into writing a favorable assessment. He even goes so far as having his beautiful, off-the-wall wife (Milla Jovovich) seduce the corrections official in order to accomplish that.

Though Angus McLachlan's screenplay sometimes tends to meander, it is populated with a quartet of fascinating multi-dimensional characters, none of which are particularly likable, yet all who are seeking some sort of spiritual enlightenment.

DeNiro, in a loveless marriage (to Frances Conroy), finds that his church going cannot help him avoid his darker impulses, while Norton, after he witnesses a fellow prisoner being murdered, claims to have had a religious...

PERFORMANCES that you'd expect
STONE is dubbed a "psychological duel", and it is. Robert Deniro plays Jack, a parole officer who holds all the cards in the life of Stone (Edward Norton) a convicted arsonist who is pleading his case to be released from prison, back into society. Stone will stop at nothing, including using his wife to manipulate Jack.

The movie leads you to believe that you know and understand all the characters involved but they go different directions as the movie goes along. It does a pheonominal job of progressing its characters and revealing more and more about who they were and who they are becoming.

With guys like Robert DeNiro and Edward Norton and a superbly underated and fearless actress Milla Jovovich, STONE is an outstanding character study and may hit home with a lot of people who could be going through life in an unhappy marriage or living life without hope. It is impossible to give too much insight without giving away important elements to the story. The story...

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