Stoker

*****
Release Date: March 1st 2013

After India's father dies, her Uncle Charlie, who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her unstable mother. She comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives and becomes increasingly infatuated with him.  

Director: Chan-wook Park (Oldboy)

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, Dermot Mulroney

Stoker is Chan-wook Park's US debut. It's hard for foreign-language based film-makers to break western mould, and by god does Park do it well. It will be one of the most bizarre, tense, questionable films this year.

Even though Park has broken into Hollywood, it's not your average Hollywood film. He manages to contain the art-house feel within the mainstream. It's serious, experimental and would usually not appeal to the masses, but a combination of direction, deftly finesse script, and impeccable cinematography shape this into a creepy horror, without the violence.

Stoker starts immediately gloomy and foreboding, at a funeral of Richard Stoker (played by Dermot Mulroney in flashbacks), father to India (Mia Wasikowska) and husband to Evelyn (Nicole Kidman). India's uncle Charles (Matthew Goode) shows up at the funeral, with India having no knowledge of this family member existing. Here marks the start of the guesswork; trying to find out why each of the three family members are acting strange.

India it would seem was closer to her father than her mother, so scorns anything and everything she says or does. She doesn't like to be touched, and is a very lonesome girl. She gradually becomes interested in uncle, as his past is shrouded in mystery. All we know is he's travelled the world, but anything he tells us seems unconvincing. Evelyn is not as estranged as most would be so soon after losing her husband. Instead she is just as absorbed by Charles's charm as India is. (This is probably the reasoning behind the BBFC giving this a harsh rating).

Little is said on camera, and that's exactly how it should be. Goode, Kidman and especially Mia Wasikowska are on form, whether it's a portrayal of emotion or something said, it's top class. Matthew Goode makes a smile look sadistic, Nicole Kidman replicates a similar casting (The Others) but with more edge, and Wasikowska is just exceptional. No one can say more with expression than she can.      
Written by non-other than Prison Break's Wentworth Miller, it's a new turn that for the actor. If he can write material similar to this again, then it won't be such a shame that he's off camera. Chung-hoon Chung, who has worked with Park often and is the DOP for Stoker, manages to make every shot interesting. There are metaphors in transition shots and where we think there's open space, there's not, and the shot has been done for a reason. 

Overview: A fantastic film that's a unique breath of strange air. Awards are worth giving. Psychoanalysts and Freudian lovers will revel in it's phycho-sexual involvement.