Stoker
Anybody who is a fan of foreign cinema should be a fan of Korean cinema, and anybody who is a fan of Korean cinema HAS to be a fan of Park Chan-Wook. The man who gave us Oldboy and the rest of the vengeance trilogy gives us his first film in the English language which seems to be a common thing now from all the amazing Korean auteurs. I’m just glad this one didn’t star Arnold Schwarzenegger. Stoker does star Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska, and the always creepy Matthew Goode. Goode plays the uncle of Wasikowska and brother in law to Nicole Kidman and enters the women’s lives after the death of his brother.
This film is all over the place. Did you know Wentworth Miller writes screenplays? Yes, the Prison Break guy. Yeah I just found out too. This is his first one and it leaves a lot to be desired. You can’t just make everything that happens in the first sixty minutes a mystery and try to bring it all back in the last thirty. It’s a risky way to write and it didn’t work here. I can applaud the effort but it all just came out too rushed and illogical. Plus neither of these men know how people behave in high school but one has an excuse because he’s Korean. Miller’s screenplay killed the movie for me. There are two “saving graces” if one can call them that because I just didn’t like the film overall. One is the direction of Park Chan-Wook who filmed a gorgeous film filled with wonderful transitional shots and dark imagery. The second is the performance of Goode who really plays the creepy uncle well. He had this subdued but back door madness pinned down very well and he stole every scene. Kidman needs to stop with the plastic surgery. She has ruined her face.
Not bad for a rent but don’t expect much besides a pretty film that made little sense.
2/5