Stoker

Sript: Wentworth Miller, Erin Cressida Wilson(contributing writer)

Direction: Chan-wook Park

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman

Genre: Psychological Thriller

What attracted me to Stoker was it's posters. The first one was with all the three major cast members standing in their characteristic poses, a severe looking Evelyn Stoker(Nicole Kidman), a weirdly confused India Stoker(Mia Wasikowska) and the mysterious Charles Stoker(Matthew Goode).

The other one was with a portrait of Mia in B&W with the words "Innocence Ends" printed on her forehead. "Innocence ends" can actually be a very appropriate one line summary of this film as it is about India's growing up and coming to terms with her repressed urges, thoughts, long held secrets and how on realizing them she finds freedom.

Stoker is about India Stoker, a 18 year old girl who, after losing her father, to whom she was very closely attached, becomes a little lost and confused about herself and is suddenly facing her violent urges and thoughts alone which her clever and aware father was subconsciously trying to suppress. At one point, India ruminates:

He used to say, sometimes you need to do something bad to stop you from doing something worse.

Her father, who knew that there is a streak of violence running in their family blood and recognized it in her own daughter, tried to keep it suppressed it in her daughter by indulging her in hunting and stuffing her kills which she clearly enjoyed. But then she turns 18, her father dies and she is forced to suddenly face her erstwhile unknown feelings and urges which is symbolized with the return of her mysterious and hitherto unknown Uncle who shares the same streak of violence. Although she is unaware of the violent streak, she is still inexplicably attracted to him after an initial impulse of repulsion, somethign which is brilliantly shown in a piano duet scene between her and her Uncle.

Stoker is so perfectly embedded in its metaphor and symbolism that you cannot help but feel a sense of pleasure and brilliance when things unfold through it. Whether it is Mia's growing up shown through her transition from shoes to heels(and that too gifted by her Uncle!) or it is her coming to terms with her true self through her relationship with her Uncle you can see the hints lying about in the movie in all the frames.

And what complements the script is the exceptional editing, cinematography and sound design which capture Mia's highly sensitive and aware character so efficiently and consistently throughout the film and not just in the scenes in which you are meant to.

The end is a little open-ended but showcased brilliantly, with a sense of incompleteness but yet with no loss of satisfaction, when you wonder what would India do, now that she knows about herself. Will she continue what her father was trying to do, or will she go the way her uncle was going? And the tension of her conflict is shown when Evelyn Stoker says:

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, they're messed up beyond repair. So we decide to start again, wipe the slate clean, start fresh and we have children, little carbon copies we can turn to and say, you will do things I cannot. You will succeed where I have failed because we want someone to get it right this time.

But the film is not without its disappointments. One wishes for Nicole Kidman's character to have more significance and meaning(Or maybe there was and I didn't get it!). Also the sexual tension between Charlie and Evelyn is too artificial and does not seem natural even from Evelyn's point of view.

Stoker deserves a careful and undisturbed viewing and it will extract that out of you through its taut script, brilliant cinematography and editing. It is cinematic delight with all cinematic elements complementing each other for a splendid visual treat!