Arts & Life

‘Stoker’ has a great director, a terrible script

Director Park Chan-wook is known amongst film geeks and fans of Asian cinema as one of the most inventive, twisted and unique modern filmmakers in existence. His films “Oldboy” and “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” took the revenge thriller genre to another level, and his film “Thirst” took the idea of a vampire love story like “Twilight” and showed how disturbing it would be in reality.

“Stoker” is Park’s first American film, and fans hoped that he would bring his off-the-wall sensibilities to the film. Luckily for them, he has delivered what they wanted with his imagery, but the film itself suffers from weak characters and a bad script.

The film stars Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) as India Stoker, a girl whose life is turned upside down when her father dies in a mysterious accident on her 18th birthday. Immediately afterwards, her creepy but strangely charming Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) comes to stay with her and her mother (Nicole Kidman). Charlie’s intentions are not clear, and his strange relationship with India’s mother makes her suspicious that he may be up to no good.

The problem with this film is the pacing of the dialogue. The script, by actor Wentworth Miller of the television show “Prisonbreak,” sounds like it has been translated on Google from a  foreign language. People pause for long stretches of time between sentences, and the way family members speak to each other is clunky and awkward.

Some of the dreamlike quality of the film is intentional and adds to its eerie nature, but unfortunately because of this the characters suffer. Wasikowska, Goode and Kidman all play their roles fantastically but are never once believable as actual human beings; therefore, it is almost impossible to care when horrible things start to happen to them.

The teenage characters in the film are absolutely unbearable. Teenage bullying has been portrayed in tons of films before, but every single guy at India’s school is a borderline sociopath. As rude and awful as teenage boys can be, it is tough to believe they would be willing to actually beat up an attractive girl just because she’s kind of quiet.

Kidman does great work in the film, but her character is given almost nothing. Her clear attraction to Charlie doesn’t go anywhere, and it’s never explained why she is so willing to jump ship to her dead husband’s brother about a day after he’s in the ground.

Park is such a skilled director that it’s almost impossible to notice how illogical the plot of the film is until you’re walking out of the theater to your car. Every transition is absolutely mesmerizing. A close-up of a character’s hair seamlessly transitions into a field of grass, characters walk from one scene into another as the background changes around them and a simple dinner scene involves camera flourishes that are a joy to watch. Film fans will be watching Park do his thing more than they will be watching what the Stoker family is actually doing, which is probably a good idea.

Earlier this year, another beloved South Korean director Kim Ji-woon made his American debut with the Arnold Schwarzeneggar shlock-fest “The Last Stand.” That film was not well received by critics and Kim’s artistic touch was lost in the silliness.

Even though “Stoker” is not a triumph, it is refreshing to know that Park’s unique brand of insane filmmaking was not at all watered-down in his trip overseas. Hopefully his talents will be used on a more engaging and competently written story next time.

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