Stoker

Synopsis: India (Mia Wasikowska) has just turned 18 and her father has just died. At his funeral her long-lost uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) appears and invites himself to stay, much to the delight of India’s not exactly grieving mother Evelyn (Nicole Kidman). Things get creepier from there on.

Park Chan-Wook has been on something of a downward slide since he kicked world cinema in the knackers and stole its lunch money with Oldboy. He still manages to win plenty of plaudits, but I thought his film   previous to this, Thirst, was a bit dire. It’s full of great moments and an over-the-top slapstick ending but lacks anything resembling narrative cohesion. Bits of greatness do not a great film make. In fact I’ve felt the same with everything he’s done since Oldboy. The success of that film appeared to make him immune to anything resembling a disciplined narrative, which is disappointing since he made his name with tightly scripted, tense and visually impressive thrillers.

In this respect  it’s with some relief that I found Stoker to be a step backwards, at least for him, to a less meandering form of storytelling. Hitchcockian will be the word some people use, though ultimately I feel it has more in common with David Lynch than anything Hitchcock ever delivered.

India and Charlie share a strange fascination for each other. She’s intrigued by the mystery he presents whilst , as we discover, he’s been obsessed with her for years. The grim, blackly comic sensibility that marks a Park Chan-Wook film mercifully tempers what is a very creepy relationship. And as for the truth about Charlie, that’s only part of the story. This is really the coming-of-age of India, and in this department it’s about as atypical as you can get. Her troubles with boys, antagonism with her mother and her fiercely independent streak are all recast in a much darker light. She’s just as disturbed as the rest of her family - awkward teen behaviour doesn’t cover even half of it.

There are a few things that annoy, like a series of scenes that never result in much hinting at near-supernatural senses possessed by India. It’s nice shading but also suggests a puzzle that doesn’t really feel worth solving. Also disappointing is Jackie Weaver’s Aunt Gwendolyn, not because it’s a bad performance, but because the appearance is little more than a cameo. It does allow for one of the lighter chuckles in the film though.

In the end, it’s an engaging story with a few twists that are both clever and disturbing. It’s not on the same level, but Stoker is Park’s most enjoyable film since Oldboy.

 

 

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