STOKER - A REVIEW
The words "written by Wentworth Miller" don’t exactly inspire confidence or excitement in a potential cinematic project, though after this, the Prison Break stars debut screenplay, those words may seem like a slightly more appealing prospect. Having said that, the real architect and auteur at work here is Chan-wook Park. Best known for his “Vengance Trilogy", most notably the cult classic Oldboy, the Korean director makes his English language debut with Stoker.
Stoker centres on India (Mia Wachowski) as she deals with the sudden loss of her father and the problems that arise when her mysterious Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) comes to stay with her and her cold, vampish mother (Nicole Kidman).
Stoker takes influences from many different places, most notably Hitchcock. The films plot shares a lot in common with Shadow of a Doubt and features many thematic and visual nods and references to Hitchcock canon. Another influence that I noticed was Tim Burton. The film shares a lot of his style and common traits. Beetlejuice in particular is brought to mind. The film has a very gothic atmosphere, the colour scheme is mainly monochrome but with splashes of highlight colours (mainly yellow here), sets are slightly oversized, the film takes place in modern day but has a very retro/fifties feel to it. The character of India in particular is reminiscent of Winona Ryder's character Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice. Where it sets itself apart from Burton's work, however, is that Stoker is not family friendly fair, this is almost completely devoid of humour - any humour there is, is pitch black. Stoker feels like the sort of film that Burton could or should be producing nowadays rather than wasting his talents on ruining children’s classics.
Mia Wasikowska is not necessarily an exciting actress - she does, however, seem to be making some interesting choices. She does tend to play quiet, meek, slightly strange young women but she's good at it and here she's excellent.
Similarly Matthew Goode's name may not be a big draw for audiences but he has been slowly building up a good portfolio of characters. Goode is horrendously underrated and underappreciated. Goode is charismatic and electric to watch and this is probably his best performance to date. Whilst he is a great character actor, unlike his contemporaries he is incredibly subtle, never overplaying, chewing the scenery or being showy as some may be. He is almost perfect here as the intensely brooding, sinister and alluring Uncle Charlie. The one thing that slightly lets his character down is the fact that he looks like he dresses exclusively in GAP clothing. This, one assumes, is a deliberate choice in order to make him unassuming and "normal" but when such care has been taken in all other aspects to be aesthetically gothic it seems a little odd.
Nicole Kidman is equally alluring as India's cold and vampy mother who immediately takes a shine to Charlie at her husband’s funeral. Sadly this character is slightly underwritten, and while we get the impression that she is an icy and uncaring mother, we aren’t actually shown much interaction between her character and India to back this up. More of these interactions could also go a way to explaining a lot of India’s actions, emotions and personality. Having said that, with what she's given, Kidman plays it almost perfectly. This becomes the biggest problem that Stoker has; all characters are almost stock, with no real explanation or motivation for any of their actions, reactions and personalities.
Stoker is incredibly slow paced and atmospheric, relying more on lingering looks, overheard whispers and strangely sexually charged atmosphere rather than plot, story or character development. While this pace and Park’s talents make Stoker an unarguably beautiful film to watch, it may not hold the attention of the casual moviegoer.
I enjoyed Stoker whilst I was watching it but it could be described as being like a painting; beautiful to look at and holds your attention whilst you’re looking at it but there's no real emotional engagement or investment and it’s ultimately forgettable as soon as you walk away.
For a film that could be described as a horror, suspense or thriller it is completely lacking in any of those elements. Twists are foreseeable and unsurprising and the film plays out almost as expected with no real shocks or revelations.
