72
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleLos Angeles TimesRobert Abele[A] stunningly assured, darkly gripping first feature.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterClarence TsuiThe Hollywood ReporterClarence TsuiDefying its somewhat generic-sounding title, Johnny Ma's gripping criminal thriller Old Stone deploys powerful performances and eerie imagery.
- 75RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyRogerEbert.comGlenn KennyThe 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.
- 75The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenThe Seattle TimesSoren AndersenDirector 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.
- 75Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenJohnny Ma's Old Stone is a lean, nasty entry in a subgenre that could be termed the bureaucratic noir.
- 75Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniPhiladelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniLean, 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.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoSan Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoWhile 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.
- 70The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisMr. Ma paints a persuasively bleak scene that could use more psychological and philosophical nuance to go with its painstaking grimness.
- 67IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichToo 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.
- 58The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloIt’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.