Stoker

'Stoker (2013)' tells the familiar tale of an enigmatic, long-lost family member emerging after the death of a patriarchal figure, doing little to differentiate itself from the plethora of other movies in its subgenre. When it boils right down to it, it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect it to be. As such, it all feels rather... inconsequential. It plays its hand far too early in some aspects and, in general, is just incredibly predictable. Even its more extreme elements are presented in a somewhat 'neutered' fashion, feeling like they were included to shock rather than to elevate the story (or, even, make it more unique). That's not to say the film is bad, though. It's a relatively engaging and entertaining in-the-moment experience that does have some interesting aspects. The most obvious of these is its avant-garde direction from Park Chan-Wook, which is turned up to eleven in almost every single scene. This creates an odd effect that does elevate the flick's mysterious atmosphere, even if it sometimes seems a little too 'arty' for its own good. Another thing the film has going for it is its strong cast, each of whom turn in fairly strong performances. The overall thing just falls down in retrospection, though, because it doesn't really do anything all that special. Its overly complex direction hides the fact that it isn't all that deep, something which becomes clearer and clearer the longer you spend thinking about it. It's one of Park's weakest films, for sure. Still, it's a decent mystery-thriller. It's entertaining enough while it lasts. 6/10.

I had missed this movie when it came out a few years ago. I recently did a search on "best movies" of various years and came upon it for the year 2013.

Instead of trying to give a summary I will just say that what seems to be the situation at the beginning of the movie isn't valid, and as the movie goes along, all the way to the final scene, additional surprises come at you.

It involves the untimely death of a husband and dad, Mr Stoker, followed immediately by the showing up of dad's rarely seen brother Charlie. His appearance happens to be on the daughter's 18th birthday and that was not a coincidence.

All the parts are very well portrayed by the various actors, the story and its nuances are disturbing but the movie is so well done that it is totally worthwhile.

This is the first English language film from South Korean director Chan-Wook Park. He is probably most famous for the intense psychological thriller Oldboy. With his American debut he reigns in the extremity somewhat but does retain the visual inventiveness that is also one of his trademarks. In many ways Stoker is a modern update of Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Like that one, this film has a mysterious uncle re-emerge into the life of a family after many years of absence. Before long it becomes pretty clear that all is not as it seems with this man and he is in fact extremely dangerous. The main character is an 18 year old girl called India Stoker played by Mia Wasikowska who was recently in the not very good but very popular Alice in Wonderland. She leads the film very well and carries off the bookish character effectively. There is also able support from Nicole Kidman as her mother.

The look and feel of Stoker is impressive. The atmosphere is well sustained throughout. If I had a criticism it would simply be that the story ultimately isn't all that original and there aren't really a lot of surprises. What it does do though is to take a fairly standard psychological thriller story and make it interesting by way of cinematic techniques. It isn't a movie that is exactly going to break the mould but it is pretty accomplished nevertheless and is a pretty good first English language feature from its director.

I read many of the reviews on this site before deciding to watch this movie. And since I really like slow moving psychological thrillers I gave this move an honest chance. That should not be given.

The movie is well shot, well acted, yet utterly uninteresting. The story does not build up in any straight direction, you never know what is real and what is not and there is just so much confusion in the storytelling that I never really knew where I was standing. I began to wonder if there would be some grand twist in the end, and was waiting for it through one pointless scene after the other, just to realize the ending could be seen a mile away and all that confusing storytelling really amounts to absolutely nothing.

I would recommend this movie only to people who can sit through two hours of something they are not exactly sure whether it is what you are watching. Just terrible in my opinion. The entirety of the story could be summed up in 30 minutes and it would make for a wonderful short movie. But as it is - it is tedious and unrewarding.

Without the appropriate cinematic skills, this film could have sunk completely, but thanks to Chan-wook Park being a master of psychological thriller, it came to be a nice work of art. A great manipulator of the audience's emotions, he meticulously constructs the movie in such a way to get you exactly where he wants you throughout it. He might be a little bold, but he knows how to keep the balance.

"Stoker" obliges you to stay fully conscious all the time to keep up with the symbolisms and invites you to use your imagination. The director wants a participating audience, is ambiguous on purpose, loves to make us wonder and speculate just as much as he loves leaving us room for interpretation when the film ends. Deliberate loose ends and cut scenes, designed to confuse the viewer and cause uncertainty.

Much like with his all-time classic, puzzling masterpiece "Oldboy", Park wants to disturb you. An exciting, twisted story, very powerful scenes, even scenes that many people won't be able to tolerate. A compelling story about dark nature and sickness, about liberating yourself and becoming aware of your desires. Violence is portrayed with scenes focused on beauty, and sexuality is portrayed dark and repressed.

I liked the script by Wentworth Miller (although I don't think the script gets full credit for the suspense created here), and I found Mia Wasikowska's performance superb.

This film is dark and might make you feel disgusted or uncomfortable. But for me, the beauty of the scenes, the emotions it provokes and how it climaxes, made me think of it as a piece of music.