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TIFF: We have a review of of the Norton/De Niro/Jovovich thriller STONE!

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here to introduce another Toronto review, this time a movie I've had a chance to see called STONE starring Robert De Niro as a parole official at a prison, Edward Norton as a potential parolee and Milla Jovovich as Norton's wife who is willing to do anything to help De Niro make the call to parole her husband. "Jamboncuit" is right on the money in terms of performances. All three leads are stellar and when you can say that about modern day De Niro you know it's something special. Enjoy the review!

Hey guys, What I love most about TIFF (besides it being located in my hometown) is going to movies I know absolutely nothing about. I, and I assume most people on this site, are so accustomed to knowing everything there is to know about upcoming movies – what with all the wealth of movie knowledge the internet holds, rarely do I go into a movie without knowing a decent helping about it. That's why I love TIFF, and any other film festival for that matter. That brings me to STONE. I know there's a trailer floating around out there, and I'm sure there's still a wealth of behind the scenes spoilers, but it wasn't on my radar. And going into this totally blank is the best way to do it. It's been 14 years since Robert De Niro put this much effort into one of his performances and as much is evident in one of the first showdown scenes he has with Edward Norton where he tears a strip off him so good it had the whole audience cheering. It's a brilliant flash of emotion and this side of his tortured passive/aggressive parole officer Jack Mabry only surfaces a few times throughout, but when it does you know he means business. The plot unravels like a typical con story but takes a few turns throughout and in the end gives you a different conclusion then you would expect from the set up, but once it happens you can't picture it going any other way. Director John Curran and screenwriter Angus MacLachlan do an excellent job of keeping De Niro's intentions ambiguous throughout. After the shocking opening scene, where his character does something that will give any parent in the audience the chills, you're left to feel on edge the rest of the film knowing what his character is capable of. Jack Mabry is a parole officer nearing the end of his career and is passing the torch to a younger, prettier, officer, but before he goes he wants to finish the last of his jobs. And convicted arsonist, Gerald Creeson (Edward Norton), is one of them. Creeson is up for parole and he needs Mabry to tell the parole board that he's okay, that he's learned his lesson. Creeson, sensing Mabry isn't entirely bowled over by him, pushes his beautiful wife Lucetta (Milla Jovovich) to contact Mabry on the outside and, well... convince him to help them out. Lucetta is, as described by Creeson: "a total alien." She's not of this earth... And once we meet her we understand. There's a phenomenal scene where after ignoring all her previous calls Lucetta rings Mabry at home and while his wife (Frances Conroy) is standing mere feet away, Lucetta convinces him to meet her. It's all in her voice... her begging eventually becomes a whisper... and you can see the moment in the conversation when she wins him over. How could you say no to that face? And voice? In the Q & A afterward, when asked about working with De Niro, Jovovich recalled this scene and said that De Niro kept hanging up on her over and over again before they finished the scene. She finally understood that she would really have to convince him or he'd keep hanging up. So she would go further and further, slowing her voice, softening her tone, until she finally won him over. Both actors are excellent in this scene and without saying a word you know what De Niro is thinking the entire time, and you know when she has him. To go any further plot wise would spoil a movie I'm recommending you don't know anything about going in. I didn't, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. I sense that they may market this as a thriller, but it's more than that – and not really that at all. It's a character study. Mabry is in his own jail, just as Creeson is. They're more alike then Mabry would like to believe. And that leads me to character. All the leads are fantastic. The first second you hear Norton's voice is a little disconcerting. I was thinking, is he really trying this? And then a line or two later you realize how well it works. The sound is so well mixed in this (as was mentioned by a viewer during the Q & A) and Norton's voice has these little subtleties... like sometimes he drags a word on for a little longer than he should and it creeps you out, and other times he throws a little drawl in there that recollects his Primal Fear role. His scenes with De Niro are all fantastic. And De Niro is great in this. You get the sense that De Niro really dug into this character and his commitment elevated those around him. Especially Jovovich. This is probably her best work. Could be that De Niro and Norton just work well together. I mean I thoroughly enjoyed THE SCORE, but I love a fully committed De Niro, and though stifled as his character was in that, I found him to be pretty subdued. Having zero knowledge about this film going in I was not expecting to see De Niro show an old spark that I haven't seen since HEAT... and it definitely left me with a smile on my face. Go see this. Just don't read or watch anything about beforehand. You won't be disappointed. Well... maybe it's too late for that... Jamboncuit

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