Old Stone
老石
Canada, 2016, colour, 1.85:1, 79 mins.
Director: Ma Nan 马楠 [Johnny Ma].
Rating: 7/10.
China-set drama-cum-thriller is a challenging mix of genres that belies its modest, verismo look.
STORY
A town in Guangde county, Anhui province, eastern China, the present day. Taxi driver Shi (Chen Gang) accidentally knocks over a motorcyclist in a crowded street and, after calling the police, decides to take the man to hospital himself in order to save his life. But because he didn’t follow official procedure and wait for the authorities to arrive, Shi finds himself personally liable for the man’s hospital bills, starting with one for over RMB12,000 for the initial surgery. The man’s family is in Hebei province, so will take a while to arrive, he is told. Shi’s insurance company refuses to help out as he didn’t follow procedure. The injured man, Li Jiang (Zhang Zebin), survives surgery but lapses into a coma. Shi obtains the telephone number of his family and calls them anonymously; they are under the impression that all the hospital bills are being paid by “the guilty party”. Shi, who still hasn’t told his wife (Nai An) about the accident and his liability, manages to access his taxi in the police pound, and finds the mobile phone of his passenger at the time, a drunken businessman (Wang Shenglong) who actually caused the accident by tugging at Shi’s arm while he was driving. Meanwhile, Shi’s wife finds out what has been happening and takes him to a lawyer friend for advice. When the lawyer pleads pressure of work and says it would have been easier for Shi if the man had actually died, Shi’s wife takes a drastic step to protect herself and their four children. With no option but to continue paying the hospital bills, Shi becomes more and more desperate. Then one day the businessman’s mobile phone rings.
REVIEW
A tightly packaged indie that has a verismo feel for quotidien Mainland life but avoids the usual poverty-porn cliches, Old Stone 老石 marks an impressive feature debut by writer-director Ma Nan 马楠 [Johnny Ma], a writer-director in his mid-30s who was born in Shanghai but moved to Toronto in 1992. Inspired by a quirk in Mainland law that can make a driver in an accident personally responsible for the injured party’s medical bills, the film centres on an unremarkable, everyday case and the way in which an honest, well-meaning taxi driver finds his life (and principles) destroyed by the system. Part family drama, part tenebrously black comedy, and with the growing tension of a psychological thriller, Old Stone is a challenging mix of genres that belies its modest production values.
Set in an unnamed town in Anhui province, eastern China, the film opens with the title character, Lao Shi (Old Shi), surveying a street accident with a pained face. Flash back to three months earlier, and it turns out he was personally involved in a similar incident, knocking over a motorcyclist when a drunken passenger tugged his arm while driving. Panicking when the authorities are slow to respond, and trying to save the motorcyclist’s life, Shi took him to hospital himself – but thereby became liable for all his medical bills. Ma’s script follows the twists and turns of Shi’s situation with an unblinking eye, as the insurance company refuses to pay up for bureaucratic reasons, Shi digs deeper and deeper into his bank account as the man sinks into a coma, and even Shi’s marriage is impacted. When a lawyer frankly says it would have been easier for Shi if the man had died, dark thoughts start to cross his mind.
Only by first creating a believable situation in which Shi finds himself trapped is the movie able to bring off its darker, more blackly comedic second half, in which Shi, a basically decent and devoted family man, is driven to think the unthinkable. Ma’s script doesn’t take sides or lecture its audience; but it’s a tribute to his direction and the performance of lead actor Chen Gang 陈刚 that one is forced to confront one’s own fears about how one would react in a similar situation. Though best known as a TV drama actor, Chen, 50, was so good in two films by under-rated Mainland director Wang Jing 王竞: as the raggedy migrant worker in the wry ensemble movie The End of Year 一年到头 (2008) and as the charismatic gangster in family drama Feng Shui 万箭穿心 (2012). In Old Stone he’s utterly believable as a well-meaning taxi driver but also uncomfortably sympathetic as a potential murderer.
As the wife who will do anything to protect her family, actress-producer Nai An 耐安, 53, a regular producer for director Lou Ye 娄烨 (Mystery 浮城谜事, 2012; Blind Massage 推拿, 2014), brings an authentic, bottom-line practicality to her role that’s equally believable, as well as a straight-faced humour. Spanning all aspects of Shi’s life – from his family to work colleagues to those involved in the accident – the film sometimes feels too impressionistic as it crams a wealth of material and mood-changes into a tight 79 minutes; but the ruthless editing by Chinese American Long Dameng 龙大盟 [Mike Long], documentary-flavoured look by Hong Kong-born d.p. Liang Mingjia 梁铭佳 (Murmur of the Hearts 念念, 2015) and supporting performances by local non-pros (especially Luo Xue’er 罗雪儿 as Shi’s quietly devoted teenage daughter) are all blameless.
More questionable is the arty use of overhead shots of a forest menacingly swaying in the wind and rain, and a brutal, percusssive score by US TV composer Lee Sanders that breaks in now and then. Though neither derails the drama, both too obviously underline the movie’s gradually escalating darker mood. Also ill-considered is the film’s English title, which pointlessly translates the literal meaning of shí (“stone”) rather than leaving it as a family name. Either Lao Shi or Old Shi would be preferable.
CREDITS
Presented by Maktub Films (CA). Produced by Maktub Films (CA).
Script: Ma Nan [Johnny Ma]. Photography: Liang Mingjia. Editing: Long Dameng [Mike Long], Daniel Garcia. Music: Lee Sanders. Art direction: Zheng Chen, Zhang Xueqiang. Costumes: Li Ke. Sound: Sheng Yong, T. Terressa Tate.
Cast: Chen Gang (Shi), Nai An (Ling Maomao, Shi’s wife), Wang Hongwei (Captain), Zhang Zebin (Li Jiang), Luo Xue’er (Shi Xue’er, Shi’s eldest daughter), Wang Shenglong (drunken passenger).
Premiere: Berlin Film Festival (Forum), 12 Feb 2016.
Release: Canada, 9 Dec 2016.