Review of Stone Boy (1982) by Lee M — 02 Nov 2010

Wow, one of the most depressing movies I have seen. I've got to stop watching The ______ Boy movies. The Mudge Boy remains one of the most disturbing I've seen, and this one is just too depressing to enjoy at all.

It's 1984 and a 12-year old boy accidentally shoots his brother and kills him while hunting. I like stories that disentegrate around one event. Phillip Roth's American Pastoral, Joyce Carol Oates' We were the Mulvaneys, the song/video to Indian Summer by Brooks and Dunn. This family kinda falls apart after the shooting, but with the film quality, acting, and farm life, it's just too much.

Robert Duvall is generally subtle but masterful. I just cannot recall a poor performance by him. In this, he's almost uncomfortably good just by doing nothing. There are some other funny cast members. Glenn Close went on to be very successful. The brother who gets shot is none other than Superman Dean Cain. The lady on the bus one day becomes Sara O'Connor.

The other huge thing in this movie is drinking while pregnant. The lady can't figure out why she keeps having miscarriages?! I don't think it is intentional...I think in the movie it is a health problem, but once she chooses to drink whiskey herself, and another time it is offered to her to calm her. I can't really think of another movie, even old ones, where a pregnant woman drinks (sadly, I've seen it in bars a couple of times).

This is just a pretty awkward and depressing movie all-around. I don't think it would be nearly as effective in 2010, but with the dress and graininess of a 1984 movie...and the ignorance evidently back then... it's a great premise for a movie, and the downer feeling of the premise carries itself through the entire show.