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.
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…
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)
nicole: You know, I’ve often wondered why it is we have children in the first place. And the conclusion I’ve come to is… At some point in our lives we realize things are screwed up beyond repair. So we decide to start again. Wipe the slate clean. Start fresh. And then we have children. Little carbon copies we can turn to and say, “You will do what I could not. You will succeed where I have failed.” Because we want someone to get it right this time. But not me… Personally speaking I can’t wait to watch life tear you apart.
me: I want you to tear my life apart
nicole: what?
me: what?
Stoker is in my opinion Park Chan-wook’s weakest film, it lacks the depth, characters and nuance of his other films, but that’s quite clearly due to the screenplay. Wentworth Miller, while being a good actor, is a very mediocre writer.
Before I get to a few of the poorer aspects, I do want to state that the majority of this film is quite good. The direction is brilliant, I wouldn’t have expected anything less. The cinematography is outstanding, some of the shots in this were just perfect, Chung Hoon-chung and Park Chan-wook are a match made in heaven when it comes to visuals. The acting is all brilliant, with a great performance from Matthew Goode. The score is fantastic and…
park chan wook sure did do that shot of a daddy long legs spider crawling up mia wasikowska's skirt didnt he
HOLY SHIT
NO ONE could've made this movie work if not for Park Chan-Wook. This script was made for him and it's a miracle it got in his hands, being in English and all. So many twists! And so much conveyed through flashbacks! No one does a flashback twist like Park, baby! You want match cuts? He's got match cuts! You want montage edits? Boy howdy, has he got montage edits for you! Look at these colors! Look at these sets! Look at that framing! Look at that…understated acting? Huh. Haven't seen that in a Park film before. But fuuuuuuuck, man, there are some scenes in here that'll stay with me for a good long while. That piano duet. I…
I don't know if she wasn't good or just excessively obsessive, but I found that Nicole Kidman was painful to watch during this movie. Maybe just because also the movie was painfully slow at moments.
Wow I’m- wow this film is like the feeling you have when someone take your wig off without you knowing, bye your wig and you are surprised.
Lebih cantik dari Lady Vengeance, kalau boleh aku bandingkan. Cantik mulai dari pengambilan gambar (deretan kotak sepatu, rambut yang berubah jadi padang ilalang, merancap di shower, itu legit!) sampai tokoh utamanya, yaitu India Stoker yang diperanin Mia Wasikowsa (namanya sama-sama unik btw). CANTIK BANGET AKU SUKAAAA.
Cantik juga dari segi eksekusi, padahal materi, halah materi, oke naskah yang dipunya cenderung sederhana. Kalau ini kata orang lho, ya. Setelah aku nonton sendiri.... SEDERHANA DARIMANANYA HUHUHU. Otak lemotku masih harus bekerja keras karena masih belum ketemu penyebab kenapa begini, kenapa begitu, jadi gimana, jadi begitu. Lebih paham Oldboy deh huhuhu.
Tapi memang itu kali ya, yang bikin film ini tambah cantik. Ibaratnya kayak nggak mudah buat pahamin raut wajah polosnya India Stoker yang ternyata menyimpan banyak tanya, tentang apa yang dia pikirkan soal Charlie, pamannya. Apa dia benci? Apa dia benci jadi cinta karena duet main pianonya bersama omnya itu? Entahlah huhu.
mary🦋 142 films
It was hard but I put a stop at 99 minutes
Lucy 55 films
and of course: amy dunne wins
Movie Maestro 3,160 films
[after his parents have left, thinking he is ill] "They bought it. Incredible! One of the worst performances of my…
