Stoker

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Stoker was written by Wentworth Miller ('Prison Break's Michael Scofield) under the name Ted Foulke. The Black List script was voted in 2010 as one of the 10 best unproduced screenplays making the rounds in Hollywood.

Miller clarified that Stoker was "not about vampires. It was never meant to be about vampires but it is a horror story.

Directed by Chan-wook Park (Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Lady Vengeance).

Music Score by Clint Mansell (Requiem of a Dream, The Fountain, Moon, Black Swan)

Chan-wook Park's english-language debut is released on March 1st, 2013


Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska, Alden Ehrenreich, Jacki Weaver, Matthew Goode, Dermot Mulroney, Lucas Till, Ralph Brown, Lauren E. Roman

Described as a fantastical, fairy tale-like family drama that follows the story of an eccentric teen, India Stoker (Wasikowska), whose enigmatic and estranged Uncle Charlie Stoker (Goode) returns to the family after the death of the girl's father. People, however, start to go missing in her hometown...

 

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First look

 

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HD Trailer #1
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[tpr007]

Interesting. I take it Wentworth Miller is more than just a B list actor then!?

 

[raigraphixs]

Interesting. I take it Wentworth Miller is more than just a B list actor then!?

The fact he is also a film writer, then yes

He's probably got the stories tattooed on his body

 

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UK Trailer

 

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Chan-wook Park's 'Stoker' has been well received at Sundance film festival

Reviews - Stoker - Rotten Tomatoes

 

[rapta]

Saw this last night, was effectively the UK premiere, despite being billed as just a special preview screening. Park Chan-wook was in attendance, but before he even arrived, stars Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode and Nicole Kidman arrived at the theatre - was quite surreal walking behind Ms. Kidman on my way into the cinema!

The film is great - if you have a chance to see it, see it. The plot is very Hitchcock/Polanski, but in a modern sort of way, and there are certain scenes that are absolute genius. The cinematography was my favourite thing about the film, along with the editing. Expertly crafted, not as brilliant as Oldboy but certainly fresh - considering the gothic air about this film.

I even managed to get Chan-wook's autograph just before the end!

 

[cebs_uk]

nice one thats sounds like a great surprise.
Saw the trailer today and really liked it bar it showed loads and some from near the end i reckon. Love oldboy so will be watching this one. It has loads of posters up in cineworld but i had no idea of the story till before.

 

[Our Year]

really looking forward to seeing this will probly see it next week

 

[KungFuPro]

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was the first Korean film I classed as a favourite, love his way of filming so I'll have to convince the gf to go see this.

 

[Todd Tomorrow]

Just saw Stoker, which is more proof that when Asian directors go Hollywood, most of them make films so bad, it makes me question whether they were ever any good in the first place. And yet the fans of the director were ready to love this long before it came out and have convinced themselves that it is great, hence this currently has a 7.9 rating on Imdb, but the emperor has no clothes.

Taking Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt as a jumping off point, without understanding how it works formally, emotionally or as a thriller, it's an empty, airless film which just lies there to be stylish. You may just as well leaf through an issue of Elle Decoration and get the same result. The screenplay is very basic and totally predictable down to the denouement for anybody who ever has seen a psycho thriller. Wentworth Miller, the TV actor turned screenwriter of the film, basically replaces Hitchcock's and Thornton Wilder's rite-of-passage heartbreak with glib misanthropy and otherwise gets out of the way for the life style magazine images.

The characters are as thin as cardboard and none of them seem to have interior lives or a single recognisably human emotion. Everything they do is to fit into the visual design which is really just an aesthetic overfamiliar from the type of commercials which in turn have borrowed from David Lynch and Tim Burton.

Go back to Korea Chan-wook Park and make more vengeance films.

 

[Mark_a]

Richard Roeper seems to have liked it.



Regards

Mark

 

[raigraphixs]

Empire Review

Empire's Stoker Movie Review

 

[Todd Tomorrow]

Andrew O'Hehir of Salon perfectly sums up the film how I experienced it. Glad to see that not all critics went to see this with their mind made up that Park is a genius and that therefore this must be a masterpiece, rationalising every idiotic thing in the film as being meaningful or significant:

http://www.salon.com/2013/02/28/sto...212;_and_even_weirder_—_in_translation/

 

[Mark_a]

Or to put it another way, critics that agree with me know what they're talking about, those that don't, don't?

Regards

Mark

 

[Todd Tomorrow]

Or to put it another way, critics that agree with me know what they're talking about, those that don't, don't?

Regards

Mark

Exactly.

That said, by now I'd be more interested in what other forum members thought, but there doesn't exactly seem to be a rush to see this.

 

[Andy58]

I saw it today and didn't enjoy it much. Its well acted but the story has been done before and I found it very dull. Waited ages for it to get going and to be honest, it didn't. Didn't feel like an 18 either.

Edit- I've read the Empire review and now know why I'm glad I cancelled my subscription. Too many 4 and 5 star reviews and I can't agree about the script for this, its been done better elsewhere several times.

 

[Our Year]

going to see it tomorrow as it looks like its being taken of cinemas already

 

[OnTheFly]

Thought the young girl and guy were a little creepy but the film was no big deal.

 

[cebs_uk]

I went to see if before as Ivy said it is disappearing from Cineworlds tomorrow already which is strange in itself.

While I agree with TT about the characters and overall stroyline not being the strongest, the camerawork and direction are some of the best I've seen in ages.

I could tell from the credits, best since interaction I've seen with titles for a while, that I was in for a visual treat alone.

I love the shots where the camera sees one person around the corner , pulls back and twists and then sees the other person. Great close_ups throughout , and a few stand out scenes for me were :

Spoiler

1. Hair brushing , turning iinto fields.

2. Shower scene.

3. End scene with the sheriff

 

[Todd Tomorrow]

Is direction and cinematography which is unable to aid the story really that great ? The moment where the film lost me was when after we see a montage

Spoiler

where India's shoes regress in age (cute visual) it then rams that point home again by having her arrange the shoeboxes in a U-shape around herself on her bed ? Why ? because it looks pretty. But not in a cinematic way, not because it tells us anything about the character, it just looks like a fashion shot from a magazine.

Its one of the many instances where the direction makes it hard to believe in the characters motivations as more than aiding the visuals and as a result it's difficult to believe in them. The plot has no narrative forward momentum, because the film constantly stops dead for self-indulgent moments like it instead of creating tension and springing surprised on you. I think that's the sign of poor direction.

 

[Our Year]

It's a bit busy