Director: Chan-wook Park.
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman, Ralph Brown.
Running time: 98 minutes.
Certificate: 18.
Synopsis: When India’s (Mia Wasikowska) father dies suddenly, her mysterious Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) comes to live with India and her mother. But as Charlie tries to get close to India, she discovers he’s not all he seems.
Coming from the director of OLDBOY it’s little wonder that STOKER is a dark triumph, but Chan-wook Park’s first English-language effort is less visceral than his Korean vengeance movies. Instead, it’s a psychological nightmare, spliced with disorientating and quite brilliant visual flourishes and, while not perfect, it’s very close indeed.
Most interesting is the world that Park creates, as quite unlike his previous films, there is something more overtly artistic and subversive about the film’s setting. At times feeling like a period piece, at others a more contemporary teen drama, the unsettling tone is added to with surreal imagery, innovative editing, and gothic undertones – like a Tim Burton film with none of the bullshit.
The characters, too, are bizarre and alluring, lead by top-notch performances from Goode, Kidman, and Wasikowska, who is fast becoming one of the industry’s most interesting actresses. They are complex characters within a thematically complex film, but this could also be the film’s major flaw, as where the characters’ motivations are not always clear, their decisions don’t quite ring true and result in a few plot contrivances being forced in for the sake of dramatic twists. The climax, however, is quite brilliant, and PRISON BREAK actor Wentworth Miller should be mostly applauded for his debut script
Despite a few uneven moments and a slower middle-act, STOKER is an exciting and intriguing piece of work – a mysterious first step in what should prove a storied career for Park in American cinema.
STOKER is in UK cinemas 1st March.
