Review – Stoker

After the untimely death of her father on her eighteenth birthday, India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) learns she has an uncle she never knew of. He quickly takes an interest in India, and comes to live with her and her mother at their country estate. In this style-driven thriller, the English-language debut for Korean director Park Chan-wook (“The Vengeance Trilogy”), the tension quickly mounts as the charming and mysterious Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) begins to take the place of India’s father.

Stoker has a English manor, murder-mystery feel to it. High fashion, stately furniture and classic autos dominate the screen and reinforce the repressed, privileged and secretive nature of the Stoker family. It’s all very gorgeous, Park giving us some beautiful shots and transitions, but the characterisation is a bit forced. There’s a standout scene where India is brushing her mother’s hair, and reminiscing about hunting with her father, which sets the benchmark for the artistic and unobtrusive use of computer-generated imagery. But Evelyn Stoker’s confession/realisation, that she’s never brushed her daughter’s hair, is an almost comical expression of the mother-dearest trope. Nicole Kidman is given absolutely nothing with which to make Evelyn sympathetic, and it brings the whole film down.

The uncle Charlie, likewise, is so profoundly unnerving from his first appearance that it’s hardly a surprise for the audience when he turns out to be a sociopath. It shouldn’t even be a surprise for any of the characters. I don’t know how much blame the screenplay deserves for this, a debut effort from Wentworth Miller (Prison Break – yes, that Wentworth Miller), but the drama is painted in very broad strokes.

For all that, Stoker does give us a new spin on an old conceit, and affords us a collection of fine performances, that make this a movie worth seeing for anyone remotely interested in the genre.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJWrXKoTpL0&w=400]