Review of Stoker (2013) by Sunil K — 04 Jun 2014

Tuesday, May 20, 2014.

(2013) Stoker.

PSYCOLOGICAL THRILLER.

One of the things I sometimes avoid doing is reminding myself who directed it, and just watch it as a movie since a considerable amount of critics often point out that it's Chan-wook Park's first English language directorial debut. You know, the director who synonymously made a name for himself after directing "Oldboy" and "Thirst". What I sometimes do instead is remember specific sequences or scenes, that if I recognize it from another movie then I'll probably mention it which is exactly what I thought "Stoker" really looked like. Which is a current revision of Alfred Hitchcock's 1943 film "Shadow Of A Doubt". That even though the set ups are similar, the end results are radically different which if viewers are already familiar with Chan-wook Park's work, they would be able to identify his trademark on this film toward the end which to me doesn't make a whole lot of sense if one were to think about it.

This is either a coincidence or something else, but if viewers were to click onto the writer who was credited for writing the screenplay for "Stoker" by the name of Wentworth Miller, you will see that he was doing it as a homage to Hitchcock just because he's also employed as an actor as well, of such movies and television shows as "Prison Break", "Underworld" and "The Human Stain" to name a few. It's called "Stoker" because it's about the "Stoker" family which is their last names. While India (Mia Wasikowska) is wondering around outdoors, viewers get to hear what she is thinking. And it just happens to be that she has very sensitive hearing. Is this going to be a factor as the movie is processing. Not really since if you've seen a lot of movies as much as I have, I had already suspected it. Anyways, we had just found out that India's dad is dead without knowing about it's circumstances too much. After the mom, Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) and daughter, India buries him, we find out that India happens to have an uncle she didn't know she had before calling himself "Uncle Charlie" (Matthew Goode). Get it, in "Shadow Of A Doubt", the Joseph Cotton character was also named Uncle Charlie. One of the last things happened before her dad died was that he had left her a present with a key, viewers are oblivious what for. Viewers know nothing about Uncle Charlie except to see the things he appears to be very good at including cooking and piano playing which no one in the household asks him anything about his life- that includes the father. Once a maid goes missing, we suspect that Uncle Charlie has something to do with her disappearance, and the makers avoid asking questions about it too. One of the major flaws with this film is that director Park-wook Park isn't familiar with North American customs and traditions, therefore we as viewers are able to forgive him for that as long as he shows us something else, such as the local sheriff visiting the Stoker residence who doesn't even seem to suspect anything suspicious when in real life, that is most unlikely to happen. India does What is the history between Uncle Charlie and the maid, and that is nothing. How does Uncle Charlie seem to know where everyone is going, which is another question that is not answered by viewers. And now that the maid is gone, how does the house get itself cleaned up since the maid that went missing is supposed to be the head maid. Despite the strange ending, viewers are left with more questions than answers.

2 out of 4 stars.