Stoker (2013)
[Reader disclaimer: there will be some spoilers discussed. This piece also contains material of a mature/graphic nature].
After a 3-year hiatus, actor Wentworth Miller came back into the spotlight in 2013, not only to publicly criticize the homophobia prevalent in Russia at the time, but to say 'hey world. I've written something, and it's pretty damn great'.
Stoker is, undoubtedly, a slow-burner of a film. Directed by Chan-wook Park, the man who brought you the infamous cult classic Oldboy (2003) and the lesser known but equally fantastical I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006), this film explores the interconnectivity of family in the darkest ways imaginable and presents a very unconventional coming-of-age story.
The protagonist is India Stoker (played by Mia Wasikowska), a girl who loses her father to a car accident on her 18th birthday. India's character is truly fascinating: hyper-feminised, cold and logical, she presents a kind of stillness and creepy demeanour. One might even argue that her character is undoubtedly psychopathic but, as an audience member, I still felt like I could empathise with her grieving for her father's loss and making casual (yet horribly morbid) remarks about it.
We are also introduced to Charlie (Matthew Goode), the brother of India's late father and her sauve yet enigmatic uncle. Not much is said about him to begin with and it does take some time for the film to take us there: we are told that he's a traveller and we are shown that he has an unusual interest in India but that's about it.
In retrospect, there are prerequisites to the plot twist with Charlie everywhere: a spider crawling up India's leg, Charlie's interest in the land's soil, a water-gun in his briefcase, the mention of a restaurant called "L'Institution". Out of context, these sound like strange and unfamiliar pieces of the film, but together they make for an interesting narrative progression, one which I can't really explain without spoiling the entire film for you.
The one aspect of this film that took me by surprise when I first watched it was the relationship between Charlie and India. It becomes a quasi-sexual, somewhat incestous affair without explicitly showing it. There are two sequences in particular that you will see this in but most notably the piano scene.
That sequence is arguably one of the most important scenes in the film, depicting Charlie as a dominant role: the two play the piano together, Charlie assertively joining in and changing the tempo. When India matches his speed, he reaches around her to play a higher scale, making India tighten her legs and lose herself in a different reality. This scene is masterful, showing India's ability to be vulnerable and submissive, abruptly ending the song as if to represent a climax.
This would be far less creepy were they not related, though.
Another vital part of Stoker is materialism. India's shoes, her father's belt, the hunting rifles...all items used in their respective scenes to teach us about the characters. Park's ability to show us their significance rather than explain it is admirable and, I'd argue, a hard feat for any director to accomplish without remaining too confusing and vague.
With any film, there are blind spots, parts of the plot which didn't settle very much in terms of progressing it forward. India's mother (played by Nicole Kidman) made for an interesting and complex character, however I would argue that she isn't featured enough: there's an entire section where we are shown the relationship between Charlie and India becoming more intense and it wasn't until it cut to Kidman walking into a scene that I found myself thinking 'oh yeah, I forgot she has a mother'.
Because the narrative is bolstered by Charlie in the second-half of the film, the estranged relationship between mother and child is given a backseat, and I would argue that India's remaining parent is an important part of her growing up into the matured adult we see at the end of the film.
Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed Stoker: rewatching it reminded me of how artistically unsettling Park's films can be and how poignant Miller's screenplay was for what was essentially his debut as a film writer.
If you liked this film, I'd also recommend the following:
- Lady Vengeance (2005)
- Funny Games (2007)
- Black Swan (2010)
- Gone Girl (2014)
- Crimson Peak (2015)
Overall rating: 8/10
- K
No comments:
Post a Comment