Stoker (2013) -Park Chan
Wook
spoilers
After the death of her father India Stoker is
left to live with her unstable mother Evelyn until her uncle Charlie comes to
town and starts living with them. India and her mom are both attracted and
intrigued by Charlie's calm and quite manner. But India and Evelyn don't know that
Charlie holds a horrible secret with him. When Charlie first arrives, India
feels like he is replacing her father and starts worrying, she later on accepts
that when she realizes that Charlie murdered her father and she starts to become
attracted to Charlie and his brutal murders. What happens after that is beyond imagination.
I loved the way director Park Chan Wook uses synthetic editing to show similarities
and memories of past and present. Park Chan Wook has a very unique and fast passed
editing style which is a little bit like Quentin Tarantino's (Tarantino is a
big fan of Park Chan Wook). Nicole Kidman is good as Evelyn an unstable mother
and widow who found a 'better' version of her dead husband in his younger and
charming brother Charlie, Mia Waskiwoska is pretty good as a straight A student
that is going through a shock after the death of her father and discovers many
new sides to herself, the problem about the acting is that many of the
minor actors weren't very convincing in their roles. The film's story is very
interesting with a couple of twists and turns, but I thought the script was
going too fast because I felt like the changes in the interaction between Charlie and
India were too fast. The whole movie was short but the fast passed editing worked
but the script felt unreal. This movie is very unique in its sinister way, in spite of the flaws I liked it a lot especially because of the directing.
Verdict: "4/5"
In one sentence: "a unique and fast passed
film with some flaws."