Blood Ties

It is pretty rare that I do this, but I sat watching a newly released DVD called Stoker last night and decided to write a review immediately after finishing it, and for once, one of the films I have critiqued will be readily available to buy or rent.

This 2013 dramatic horror thriller, directed by South Korean Chan-wook Park (in his first English language film), who is best known for his controversial foreign mystery thriller Oldboy, follows India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska), whose father dies on her eighteenth birthday.

India and her mother, Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) are shocked by the sudden car crash that kills him. His untimely death serves to make India even more reclusive than she already is.

At the gathering after the funeral, her father’s brother, the mysterious and never before seen world traveler Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) shows up and decides to live with the family in their lovely manor home. He seems to have a weird fascination with both mother and daughter.

Soon after, family member Gwendolyn Stoker (Jacki Weaver) drops in to visit the family and seems eager to speak to either of the women in private. Her reaction to Charlie makes us question this seemingly normal but odd relative. That is about all I am going to give away to keep the plot shrouded in mystery. I will say that it is a frighteningly bizarre and weirdly horrific film that is not for everyone, but it pulled me in from the very beginning.

Park’s directing style is breathtaking. He melds elements of silent horror movies with parts of Hitchcock thrillers, then adds touches of frightening gothic fairytales to make every image a piece of art. Early shots warn us that this is going to be a bizarre story and that we are about to be brought through the looking-glass much like Alice in Alice in Wonderland. Pay attention to the vivid and stunning use of colour throughout the film, as well as the metaphor of the spider. It is the most visually mesmerizing movie I have seen since Black Swan three years ago.

It is surprising how many feelings these stylized images can evoke. Look for silent horror movie style when India enters the basement to put ice-cream in the freezer or when she climbs the staircase to her uncle’s room. Both scenes will cause shivers. Look for Hitchcockian touches not only in the story, where writers Wentworth Miller and Erin Cressida Wilson pay homage to Hitch’s movie Shadow of a Doubt, but visually as well, as the audience will be reminded of images from Psycho which include taxidermy in the home, a murder at a motel, and a shadowy scene with a knife when India comes up from the basement. The staircase is also used as a motif, much like Hitchcock used in some of his films including Shadow of a Doubt.

Finally, other more original moments must also be highlighted. The piano duet between India and Charlie is ingeniously layered. Also, the transition from India brushing her mother’s hair to images of a hunting trip she took with her father is creatively stunning. Lastly, the final image of the movie sums up all that we have seen in a perfect way. These final few minutes take us back to the beginning of the movie, bringing us full circle in a tidy way.

The performances must also be discussed. Wasikowska is excellent as the dark, somber and disturbed teenager. She plays the part convincingly and deserves quite a bit of credit for making this film so engrossing. Goode is just as impressive. His creepy performance seems to be channeling Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates in Psycho mixed with a tinge of Robert Mitchum’s classic portrayal of Harry Powell’s (persistent and upbeat) psychotic character in The Night of the Hunter. He is utterly convincing in the role. Lastly, as I have no better place to put it, I will mention that this is the last motion picture Tony Scott (best known for directing Top Gun and Man on Fire) produced before he died – he passed away shortly after production.

Stoker is also quite violent at times. There are a few gruesome murders, but it is the cerebral and emotional undertones brought forth through the actors and artistic direction that create an eerie vibe that sticks with you long after the final credits roll.

In the end, Chan-wook Park’s English directorial debut will take you on a strange journey through sanity and insanity, life and death, love and hate, stalking and reclusiveness – and if you give it a chance, it will keep you in a transfixed stranglehold from beginning to end.