A Reel Review: STOKER

 

In 2005, South Korean director Park Chan-wook unleashed upon an unsuspecting world his chilling and shocking OLDBOY. Here in 2013, Chan-wook arrives to America with his new film, STOKER; a spooky and eerie family drama nothing short of fascinating.

Young schoolgirl India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) has a gifted sense of hearing which allows her to hear the tiniest sounds. After her father (Dermot Mulroney) is killed in an apparent auto accident, India and her mother (Nicole Kidman) are visited by Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode), whom India never knew existed. As Uncle Charlie and India’s mother begin to grow closer, India begins to dig around Charlie’s past…

The territory is somewhat familiar; two people (India and Charlie) spending the story trying to figure out what’s going on in each other’s head. In this setting it works, as director Park Chan-wook weaves and constructs a heavy and brilliant atmosphere which hangs over the film like an iron weight. As characters poke and prod each other with mind games, there is always a feeling of tension and dread going on…at all times you always feel like that iron weight is about to drop and smash everything. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. As India begins to dig around to figure out if Charlie really is who he says he is, the film is smart enough not to fall into a standard mystery-machine vehicle. It instead dives deeper into the character of India, as her journey winds up following Charlie’s closer than expected.

Park Chan-wook’s direction and camerawork are nothing short of stunning. The film is beautiful to look at and his camera takes us to some interesting and stunning places. The heavy amount of style keeps the film moving, and it isn’t until after the (backwards running) credits roll that you realize you just watched a coming-of-age story. With so much gothic chill going on, that basic tale literally slips right by.

Performances are memorizing throughout. The film belongs to Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode. Both of them give performances which will raise the hair on anyone’s arms. Nicole Kidman is very reserved here, but when she gets her big moment she cashes in perfectly.

The big secret that the film has been hiding from the beginning feels like it comes a little too early, but it does set up a nice finale which wraps everything up nice and tight with all questions answered. That reveal isn’t predictable at all because there are virtually no hints or clues given throughout the film. This isn’t a film meant to lay out a trail of bread crumbs for the audience, but to instead let the audience play the mind games with the characters. It really is masterful filmmaking. STOKER may not shock the world to its knees, but it will definitely make it stand up and take notice.

BOTTOM LINE: See it