Old Stone
Zeitgeist Films | Release Date: November 30, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The Hollywood ReporterClarence TsuiDec 8, 2016
Defying its somewhat generic-sounding title, Johnny Ma's gripping criminal thriller Old Stone deploys powerful performances and eerie imagery. Read full review
80
VarietyMaggie LeeDec 8, 2016
Channeling the style of gritty mainland independent films but without the usual longueurs, the film deftly morphs into a suspense thriller with Dostoevskyan undertones. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleDec 8, 2016
[A] stunningly assured, darkly gripping first feature. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoDec 8, 2016
While this final segment is the least satisfying, it’s impossible not to be impressed with what Ma accomplishes in the film’s brisk 80 minutes. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniDec 8, 2016
Lean, mean, and utterly compelling, Ma’s beautifully paced and remarkably understated 80-minute thriller Old Stone is a Kafkaesque satire about the soul-crushing effects of bureaucracy. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChuck BowenDec 3, 2016
Johnny Ma's Old Stone is a lean, nasty entry in a subgenre that could be termed the bureaucratic noir. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenDec 1, 2016
Director Ma has made a quietly merciless picture, a horror movie, really, about a decent man, an ordinary man, left alone, bereft, embittered, ruined by his act of decency. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyDec 1, 2016
The ending, while not inapt, also delves into a realm of cinematic overstatement that the movie had up until that time been careful to avoid. While disappointing, it doesn’t wholly mitigate the power of what has come before. This is an engrossing and unnerving film. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisNov 29, 2016
Mr. Ma paints a persuasively bleak scene that could use more psychological and philosophical nuance to go with its painstaking grimness. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichNov 29, 2016
Too obvious and haphazard to boil over with the full caustic fury of its premise, Old Stone is nevertheless a bluntly effective thriller that makes great use of its gritty noir touches. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloNov 29, 2016
It’s too bad that the movie shifts from having too little juice to having too much, because there are hints of a more compelling middle ground. Read full review
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