Stone (Review)

John Curran’s Stone gives us three characters who have never been honest their entire lives. They prefer living false ones so that their true natures can be hidden, even from themselves. Jack Mabry (Robert DeNiro), is a man who is so overt in his Christianity that he seems to be overcompensating for something. Gerald “Stone” Creesom (Edward Norton) has been in prison for years and is up for parole, but Mabry, an officer, is not sure if he deserves parole. Gerald recruits his wife, Lucetta (Milla Jovovich), to get close to Jack and help influence the decision. All of them do the best they can do manipulate each other, and at day’s end, when they look in the mirror, what they see is pretty ugly.

Of the three characters, it is Lucetta who is the hardest to see into. She knows what she wants, and she’s used to getting it, be it from her husband or any other man. Refusal is foreign to her. If she so much as looks at a man she’s three quarters of the way from sleeping with him. She’s dangerous, and we feel as if she could snap at any moment. She enjoys her ability to manipulate, and when her husband calls on her to use it she is more than willing. Maybe she truly loves Stone, but I suspect not. She’s only still married to him because he’s been gone for most of the time they’ve been married. She’s aggressively unfaithful to him, but Stone doesn’t seem to mind.

The film’s main character is undoubtedly Jack Mabry. He’s been married for decades, but the love has been gone for most of those years. This is made obvious in a disturbing prologue depicting a younger Jack threatening to kill their daughter. His wife, Madylyn (Frances Conroy), is religious, and thus Jack is as well. He listens to religious talk radio, goes to church weekly and says his prayers, but it becomes clear he never really believes any of it. He wants so badly to think he’s been a good Christian, and thoughts of sin frequently cross his mind. Eventually, he succumbs, and he hates himself for it. He’s painted a picture in his head of a perfect man, and it shocks even him to find none of it is true.

Stone is a surprisingly religious movie, but it never really takes a side on the issue. In fact, while in prison Stone finds himself intrigued with a special kind of religion: one that focuses on listening to the sounds of God. To some this seems like a cultish religion, but it seems to work for him. He’s the one in prison, but the film is perhaps most sympathetic towards him.

This is as humorless a movie as has been released this year, and to some it might come off as overbearing and self-important. I was absorbed. John Curran (The Painted Veil) directs the action well, and the screenplay by Angus MacLachlan is intelligent and gives depth to what could have been a boring procedural. Stone is not about police work, but people at various points along the legal spectrum learning just how innocent they really are. The music is equally ominous, cast over the environment like a fog.

We all know Edward Norton can act, and we used to know this about Robert DeNiro. After spending the last several years on “DeNiro autopilot”, he’s given us two notable performances in one year. The first was his wonderfully kooky turn as a corrupt senator in Machete, and now he gives us a good performance all the way at the other end of the spectrum. At the beginning of the film this was a man who has suppressed everything, and by film’s end he finally lets his temper and subconscious get the best of him. Jovovich is also impressive as Stone’s wife, hinting that she could start being in movies that aren’t, you know, Resident Evil.

Stone is in danger of being overlooked, and it’s a shame. It’s not the best film of the year by a longshot, but it’s one of the most honest. It’s deliberate, meditative, and haunting. In this world morality, and thus religion, is subjective.

Rating:  (out of 4)