2013 Directed by Park Chan-wook
After India's father dies, her Uncle Charlie, who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her unstable mother. She comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives and becomes increasingly infatuated with him.
Does for belts, sand castles, staircases, pianos, pencils, pencil sharpeners, ice cream, freezers, phone booths, shoes, duck hunts, dinner, garden shears, shovels, metronomes, and showers what Psycho did for showers.
At 98 minutes, this is my dream length of movie. I have said it all my life.
After leaving this screening, and using the facilities, I could quite easily have jumped straight back in to watch the whole movie again. That doesn't happen to me often.
Stoker is phenomenal.
It's as dreamy as it is taught. As beautiful as it is horrific. It's The Tree of Life with A screenplay. An outstanding screenplay at that. It has been said that the director Park Chan-Wook has made a Hitchcock movie. You can't make a Hitchcock movie without a Hitchcock screenplay, and Wentworth Miller and Erin Cressida have made one. It's my favourite scenplay in recent memory. It keeps enough under wraps…
Tonight, India joins the hunt.
Gothic, surreal, unsettling, and of course, tremendously gorgeous. Not surprising since I expect nothing less from the master Park Chan Wook. A frame is always connected to the next, transition between scenes are so smooth they're almost invisible. Every shot seems to have a life of its own. Instead of being a medium to carry the plot, they gracefully became the story itself. Mia Wasikowska gave her best and so does everyone else. Without a single doubt, I say Stoker is as good as an English debut gets.
things Stoker invented:
- the word "hello"
- freezers
- blood splatter
- slow fades
- piano duets
- garden shears
- visual ingenuity
- saddle shoes
(this film only gets better and better when you rewatch it)
I’ve noticed a recent personal trend of being out of step with public and critical opinion. It’s certainly not a case of becoming contrarian or even more difficult to please in my old age but I am finding it harder to enjoy some modern films in the way so many other people clearly are. Unfortunately, Chan-wook Park’s Stoker is another one to add to this growing list of recent disappointments.
Maybe my contrasting view this time around is a little less surprising as I have always had a volatile relationship with Park’s films of either utter devotion (Oldboy, Thirst etc.) or deep loathing (Lady Vengeance, I’m a Cyborg...). The key differentiating factor between these sets of films is a robust…
Finally a creative sex scene that perfectly fits the mood and themes of the film. Interesting to see Park Chan-Wook working within the confines of American cinema. His real masterpiece is "The Handmaiden", but this is a visually stunning and thematically satisfying precursor if you can forgive the somewhat contrived nature of the plot.
Third Park Chan-wook film I've seen.
First was Oldboy. Instant classic.
Second was Handmaiden. Even better.
So what I've noticed as a throughline in his work is a fascination with eroticism, completely unpredictable twists, and a fever-dream-like way of visually telling his stories.
Stoker is his first English speaking film and I think that's what made it ultimately work less for me compared to the others. The dialogue felt that it was written by someone who's first language wasn't English.
The first 20 minutes took its time getting my excitement, but when it took hold it didn't let go until it was over. Those are the "negatives" that come to mind.
But there's so much to love here.
Chan-wook has…
That one hair/grass transition is like...the dopest shit I've ever seen. The sound design is really exciting, too. Good stuff.
The last scene of this movie is just so oddly enamoring as Becomes The Color begins to play.
Ich bin zwiegespalten...
Einerseits ist Stoker ein spannender Film mit wundervollen Bildern, und jeder Szene merkt man an, dass Park Chan-wook uns mit diesen Bildern eine Menge mitteilen möchte.
Andererseits erinnere ich mich an keinen anderen Film, der dermaßen plakativ mit seiner Symbolik umgegangen ist. Jede einzelne dieser so liebevoll aufgebauten Szenen strotzt nur so vor Metaphern. In diesem Ausmaß nervte mich das irgendwann und ich konnte die Charaktere nicht mehr richtig ernst nehmen, weil alles um sie herum wie ein bis ins kleinste Detail inszeniertes Schaufenster wirkte. Ein zu künstlicher und in seiner Symbolik häufig holzhammerhafter Film, was schade ist, weil er eigentlich viel Potential hat.
Aber wie gesagt, ich bin nicht völlig enttäuscht. Dafür hat er dann doch zu viel Gutes zu bieten und fasziniert und überrascht immer wieder. Selber ansehen lohnt.
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Yea, reeling stuff. This is not necessarily about movies having the best endings but these are the ones that leave…
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Forget 'em loud BOO-ing jump scares ‘cause these deliberate-cooked horrors/thrillers will burn you up.
Kiri Kiri Kiri Kiri 💉💉💉
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