Stoker – Review

Stoker is an interesting film accompanied by an equally curious tale. The film is directed by Park Chan Wook and is his first English-language film, yet there is another debutant that keeps the all the surprise. Stoker’s script was delivered to producer Michael Costigan soaking in mystery and authored by an unheard-of Ted Foulkes.

Well, I don’t know how many readers have watched the popular TV series Prison Break but Ted Foulkes was revealed to be Wentworth Miller who adopted the pseudonym in order to have his first screenplay taken seriously. A cunning move that resulted in an equally cunning film.

Although Stoker is a contemporary thriller, it is set in the Stoker mansion that reeks of 1920’s and stale old money and is an ideal vessel for intrigue and sinister developments. The visual elements throughout the film aim to distract and destabilise and allude to the sensory overloads that India Stoker suffers from as she experiences her gloomy coming-of-age in the wake of her father’s death.

Without mucking around I call on fans of Alfred Hitchcock to go and see this film when it is released on 15 August. There is a bunch of scenes where it is obvious that they have been painted with the Hitchcock aesthetic and this makes sense. Director Park Chan Wook was inspired by Hitchcock’s Vertigo and he certainly seeks to exploit his style of isolation and claustrophobia.

I also urge any thriller-junkies and those that are delighted by the macabre to check out this creepy story that is made elegant and bold thanks a brilliant cast, most notably Australian actor Mia Wasikowska who plays India Stoker, and Matthew Goode who plays her estranged Uncle Charlie.  I even enjoyed Nicole Kidman’s performance as India’s mother Evelyn Stoker, proof that the mainstream can kick it with the cool kids.

Reviewed by Ben Blackman

See Stoker in Cinemas around New Zealand from 15 August

http://youtu.be/mBH53lXBMTE

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