As one of my most anticipated movies of 2013, I went to see Stoker on it's opening Friday with nothing but great expectations. Being a die-hard fan of Chan-wook Park's movies also had me excited to see his first English language effort that as I sat in that theater from the very first moment I watched this film without favoritism or preconceptions. By the end, this movie still reached my expectations but I left the theater replaying how it unfolded over and over in my head for the rest of the day.
At the funeral of her father's death, India (played by Mia Wasikowska) for the first time meets and learns of the existence of her uncle Charlie. As charming and ominous Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) seems to India, early on he seeks her friendship. Still India seems suspicious of him and his sudden reemergence to which slowly starts to unfold before her. As India slowly uncovers the truth about Uncle Charlie she unexpectedly finds herself drawn to him as not only she opens herself up emotionally but she opens herself up to what makes Uncle Charlie tick.
The acting performances on this film are stellar. Mia Wasikowska who I am not a usual fan of, gives an amazing performance as India. Matthew Goode is also a star in the making who should be seen in bigger roles as he's proved in his other previous films (Watchmen, Leap year ) and plays a great part on this one as well. Nicole Kidman also shines in all her scenes as a morbid mother to India and plays her role brilliantly. They couldn't have casted for a better cast for this film.
Visually, this film is stunning as within the first couple of minutes you will be overwhelmed by this films visual style. Cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung really outdoes himself on this one. Compared to Thirst (2009) this film goes on to be a über "close up film" along with a standard usage of longer lenses not previously used in Park's earlier films, giving him perhaps a new visual aesthetics for his next films.
This might be Chan-wook Park's first English language film, but this is not your usual Hollywood Thriller/Horror genre flick. Also had this film been shot in South Korea with the same budget and a Korean cast instead, this film might have probably gone over the top to be a quintessential Chan-wook Park film which Stoker did not entirely turn out to be.
Don't get me wrong. This film had me throughout the entire movie and it's very well made, but Stoker end up being somewhat of a "small" film with a semi-rushed ending that you will see when you watch it. The direction on this film was fine but this is NOT a director's cut film which we usually get from this director and from what I have read online 20 minutes of this film was cut out of the final version for American audiences.
Still I would've liked for them to have screened a director's cut of this film at the theaters or something close to it. It's a shame that it's not to say the least, but what can we do?
Overall, I almost loved the film but I still really really dug this film and will go on to watch this again and again. I would have preferred for the studio to have allowed Chan-wook Park to make the type of movie he usually makes but this is Hollywood not South Korea. So it is what it is. 8 out of 10 stars.
At the funeral of her father's death, India (played by Mia Wasikowska) for the first time meets and learns of the existence of her uncle Charlie. As charming and ominous Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) seems to India, early on he seeks her friendship. Still India seems suspicious of him and his sudden reemergence to which slowly starts to unfold before her. As India slowly uncovers the truth about Uncle Charlie she unexpectedly finds herself drawn to him as not only she opens herself up emotionally but she opens herself up to what makes Uncle Charlie tick.
The acting performances on this film are stellar. Mia Wasikowska who I am not a usual fan of, gives an amazing performance as India. Matthew Goode is also a star in the making who should be seen in bigger roles as he's proved in his other previous films (Watchmen, Leap year ) and plays a great part on this one as well. Nicole Kidman also shines in all her scenes as a morbid mother to India and plays her role brilliantly. They couldn't have casted for a better cast for this film.
Visually, this film is stunning as within the first couple of minutes you will be overwhelmed by this films visual style. Cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung really outdoes himself on this one. Compared to Thirst (2009) this film goes on to be a über "close up film" along with a standard usage of longer lenses not previously used in Park's earlier films, giving him perhaps a new visual aesthetics for his next films.
This might be Chan-wook Park's first English language film, but this is not your usual Hollywood Thriller/Horror genre flick. Also had this film been shot in South Korea with the same budget and a Korean cast instead, this film might have probably gone over the top to be a quintessential Chan-wook Park film which Stoker did not entirely turn out to be.
Don't get me wrong. This film had me throughout the entire movie and it's very well made, but Stoker end up being somewhat of a "small" film with a semi-rushed ending that you will see when you watch it. The direction on this film was fine but this is NOT a director's cut film which we usually get from this director and from what I have read online 20 minutes of this film was cut out of the final version for American audiences.
Still I would've liked for them to have screened a director's cut of this film at the theaters or something close to it. It's a shame that it's not to say the least, but what can we do?
Overall, I almost loved the film but I still really really dug this film and will go on to watch this again and again. I would have preferred for the studio to have allowed Chan-wook Park to make the type of movie he usually makes but this is Hollywood not South Korea. So it is what it is. 8 out of 10 stars.