Parole officer Jack Mabry 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, 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 pleads for an early release. Seeing little hope in convincing Jack himself, Stone arranges for his wife 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.
Acting
Norton's twitchy, desperate energy against De Niro's crumbling granite.
Direction
Curran lets scenes rot beautifully in rural Michigan gloom.
Sound
That ambient hum that makes everything feel wrong.
Director
John Curran
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Norton reportedly hated the experience and clashed with Curran; the tension visibly crackles through Stone's performance.
The film was largely ignored on release, but its exploration of institutional rot and performative rehabilitation feels more relevant now than 2010.
US
