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| Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska |
Master Korean Film Director, Park Chan-wook's first English language film is best described as more atmospheric than tangible and more horror than suspenceful. Stoker has three of Australia's current best known actresses in its cast - Nicole Kidman, Jackie Weaver and Mia Wasikowska as well as a competent male lead role with Matthew Goode - however there is only so much a good cast can do to manage a muddle of a script which depends much on scenery and lighting and little on conveyance through dialogue. Described as a haunting Neo-Gothic thriller with a nod to Hitchcock, the film story is structured around the world of India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska), a strange introverted young woman who likes to hunt animals, having been trained and shared this interest with her father. Her life and that of her unstable mother (Nicole Kidman) is disrupted by the sudden unexpected death of her father and the arrival of his long-lost brother Charlie (Matthew Goode). Charlie allegedly has been travelling the world but the discovery of old letters by India, reveals he has been in a mental institution and has a predilection for murder. India's aunt (jackie Weaver) also arrives but before she can give a warning about Charlie, he disposes of her.
With gratuitous violence and latent sexual awakening between Charlie and India, this is a voyeuristic film with a superficial plot, shallow one-dimensional psychopathic characters and elements of sado-masochism.
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