| The Stone | |
| Director: | Cho Se-rae |
| Producer: | Jo Hyun-woo |
| Starring: | Cho Dong-in Kim Roi-ha Park Won-sang |
| Cinematography: | Ha Kyung-ho |
| Editing: | Uhm Jin-hwa |
| Music: | Noh Hyeong-woo |
| Distributor: | Cinus Entertainment |
| Studio: | Shine Picture |
| Country: | South Korea |
| Language: | Korean |
| Runtime: | 119 minutes |
The Stone is a 2013 South Korean film written and directed by Cho Se-rae. It premiered at the 2013 Locarno International Film Festival.[1] [2] [3]
Min-su is a graduate of the Korean Baduk Academy but despite his outstanding talent, he has been wasting his days as a gambler without pursuing a real career out of it. He chooses to play the game for money, easily beating every opponent that comes his way. Nam-hae is a middle-aged, smalltime gangster boss, brought up on the streets and used to using his fists to gain authority. After accidentally meeting, playing and losing to Min-su in a gambling club, while his goons were collecting the monthly installment of protection money, his taste for the ancient game is rekindled and he hires the boy to become his private instructor.
As he goes deeper into the baduk experience, Nam-hae begins reviewing his own past in the perspective of the rules and requirements of the game and begins to lose interest in the criminal world, becoming far more concerned with the future of his tutor, whom he encourages to face the challenge of a pro tournament and carve a legitimate future for himself. The fatherless young Min-su, on the other hand, discovers the coarse masculine underworld, the meaning of life and true victory through Nam-hae. However, when Nam-hae's competition starts to expand their territory, he is forced into a path to destruction.[4] [5]