Dare to be stoked

What could have been an ordinary experience becomes an exceptional visceral encounter in the hands of Korean filmmaker Park Chan-Wook, who has created a singular body of work during his more than 20 years as a writer, director and producer of some of Korean cinema's most innovative and original movies, crafting feverish scenarios that combine lyrical beauty with shattering acts of violence and operatic emotion.

Be warned not to see Stoker knowing too much about what the full story is about; although the trailer suggests a contemporary Lolita, Stoker is anything but that.

Essentially, the film deals with India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska), who loses her beloved father and best friend Richard (Dermot Mulroney) in a tragic motor accident on her 18th birthday. Her quiet life on the family's secluded estate is suddenly shattered. Exquisitely sensitive, India exhibits an impassive demeanour that masks the deep feelings and heightened senses that only her father understood. She finds herself drawn to her father's long-lost brother, Charlie (Matthew Goode), who unexpectedly arrives for the funeral and decides to stay on with her and her emotionally unstable mother, Evie (Nicole Kidman). While India initially mistrusts her charming but mysterious uncle, he fascinates her as well, and she begins to realise how much they have in common.

A nightmare that spirals into hell

Her tragic loss and new friendship mark the beginning of a nightmare that spirals into hell. Ultimately, what the film reveals it a totally different story, and one that you will not easily forget.

Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) is ideally cast as the young innocent, but the film belongs to Goode (Brideshead Revisited), and Kidman. Goode is terrific as the devilish and handsome guardian angel, with Kidman in top form as the tormented widow.

If you are looking for a mystery-thriller with bite that is smart, savvy and daring, Stoker will definitely keep you captivated and intrigued, and as the mystery unravels, it is guaranteed that you will be on edge until the final shocking moment. Films like Stoker offer viewers an opportunity to journey into the mindscape of madness, where sanity is your mortal enemy. Add to this the outstanding production value, particularly Korean cinematographer Chung-Hoon Chung visual splendour, production designer Thérèse Deprez's spectacular realisation, film editor Nicolas de Toth's tempo and rhythm, and Clint Mansell's evocative music score. Stoker proves that secrets are sacred and should remain buried, and if we dare to probe the surface, the result is petrifying and perturbing.

Fortunately, Chan-Wook does not rely on contextual restraints to strangle the narrative, but his imaginative and insightful interpretation of Wentworth Miller's noteworthy screenplay results in a work of art that is distinguished and sharp. At the end of this bizarre odyssey you will see the world differently and become aware of the smallest details, like the opening image of a young girl playing a piano as a spider creeps up her leg.

Behind the scenes

Stoker marks the first screenplay by Wentworth Miller, an actor perhaps best known for his work on the ground-breaking television series Prison Break, who worked on the script over a period of about eight years. Because he believed that no one would take an actor's first screenplay seriously, Miller convinced his agent to submit his work under a pseudonym. He decided to call himself Ted Foulke. (Foulke is Miller's dog's name.) The script eventually landed up on the 2010 Black List, the prestigious unofficial list of the best unproduced films available. As the script's reputation built, a number of top directors expressed interest in signing on. First choice, though, was a Hollywood outsider: Park Chan-Wook. Park, who cites the influences of filmmakers such as David Lynch, David Cronenberg and the sleek, sexy stylised world of Brian de Palma as well as writers Edgar Allen Poe, MR James, and Wilkie Collins, was drawn to the film's unconventional and tautly woven love story, as well as its severely restricted physical world.

"The locations are limited," he noted. "There is a small number of characters and it takes place over a short period of time. The constant tension almost suffocates. Something is about to explode, like a kettle of boiling water with the lid on tight. A story that takes place in a confined space becomes a small universe unto itself."

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