Crazy Stone (2006)

Too much of everything

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Actually, I don't like too many China movies, their story is pale, although I am a Chinese. But The "Crazy stone" is excepted, it's really a good story. We could see rare movies which story and presentation like Crazy Stone in China, so we can say it become a milestone for china movie (no including HongKong and Taiwan, you know what i mean). Splendid story and wonderful actors performance, making this film more special. Also, you can learn something true about China daily life, so it doesn't just make us happy, but some blue and black deep inside. We can see the shadow of "Pulp Fiction" in this movie, I just guess the director HaoNing is the fan of Quentin Tarantino, who knows, but we see his shadow indeed. And this never happened in any other China mainland movie, although HongKong movie is the teacher of Quentin Tarantino. In a word, I favor this movie for its good creativity and good cut.

From plot to transition, from angle of lens to rhythmic montage, from editing to tone, from contrast to freeze frame..., you can get the impression involving Guy Ritchie, who may be referred as the Godfather of Film Noir. This story starts with a priceless emerald, a squad of slack guards and two gangs of thieves, one of which is amateur, while the other is professional judging from the looking. It is not difficult to speculate what would happen from this kind of stereotyped beginning. We can't tell which part is the imitation and which is the original. It's a concise and smart comedy, somehow, whose genre is quite different from traditional dramas we can watch at the Chinese cinema. Anyway, for the director, we can say, it's almost an perfect homework. It would make somebody laugh, but it is difficult to have the audience impressed as a milestone movie.

If you really like to watch Chinese movie, if you really want to know what exactly the best Chinese movie should be, please don't watch 'Shi mian mai fu' (House of Flying Daggers), 'Ying Xiong' (Hero), or 'Wu Ji' (The Promise), but do not miss this movie: 'Crazy Stone' which would tell you that Chinese movie industry still have hope, and the new generation start direct their own movie, which is totally different as previous generation ( zhang yimou, chen kaiguo) in china. Givingyourself ten minutes watching this movie, after that, you will find that you are watching a movie which is very similar to the British movie 'Snatch', the director Lin Hao using the same way, Guy Ritchie used in 'Snatch' and 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', but the movie reflects the true living situation about plebeian in china. This movie fills with black humor, admirable scenario, and dialect (CHONG QING, CHENG DU, GUANG DONG, and QING DAO). Now it is the hottest movie in china this summer.

With Memento style film structure, Pulp Fiction style story telling, and Snatch style plot and action, the first Chinese dark comedy, The Crazy Stone sets a milestone for Chinese films. The film title says all. It is a crazily hilarious film about three groups of people trying to steal a piece of emerald. The language is in Chinese local dialect from Sichuan. Even you don't understand the dialect, Chinese subtitle is available. All performers did a great job in their roles. The story is simple but very close to nowadays people's life, which brings proximity to different audiences. The film is currently a big hit in China, outruns all other foreign films. If you like to have a good laugh, or to know a little bit about nowadays Chinese plebeian life, you shouldn't miss this film.