Director Chris Cain’s deceptively simple film played for a week in San Francisco in 1984 and promptly disappeared. SFI is proud to present this complexly shaded study of a rural family torn apart by tragedy. An accident kills the oldest son, leaving his younger brother (Jason Presson) stricken with grief and guilt. A terrible silence grows between him and his parents (Robert Duvall and Glenn Close), and he becomes as mute as a boy made of stone. Only the grandfather (Wilford Brimley) is able to reach out and offer the compassion he needs. THE STONE BOY deals with a subject all too rarely glimpsed in American film: the genuine pain of repressed emotion and the work that goes into the gentle art of healing. Beautifully photographed by Juan Ruiz-Anchia, and expertly acted by the outstanding cast. (1984, 93 min.)
