Stoker - A Thriller

Now it is no secret that I am not exactly a fan of horror films, my review of Saw should prove that! But I did love Black Swan, a film which has much in common with Stoker, both films are thrillers and are perfectly understated, with the events of the films having a jarring contrast with the intense beauty of the images presented, and the hideous nature and motives of the main characters. The film stars Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode and of course Nicole Kidman in the leading roles.

The film revolves around a family just after the death of its patriarch, as the fathers creepy brother moves in with the family, and all hell ensues! This film is everything i love in a thriller, in that it has an economy of shocks, the film never tries to go over the top with its more cathartic moments, and manages to do more with suspense than outright gore, with only a few moments in the film actually showing blood. This economy is what makes the film truly suspenseful, and effective, and what keeps the audience intrigued, and never becoming desensitized, or adjusted to the violence.

The film has a great cast, and none of the lead actors let the side down, the three leads in the film are particularly stunning, especially India played by Mia Wasikowska, who manages to act without words, and incredibly manages to portray a child who is dark and haunted, and yet who is also introverted and silent. She is an economic actress in this role, and we connect with the character through her silence and strangeness. The character is not necessarily understood by the audience, yet is accepted and cared for, in spite of her strangeness, and in reality it is the fact that film has a foreign director, that there is a silence and contemplation to the film.

Matthew Goode is also good as the creepy uncle, and manages to be totally creepy, and really attractive at the same time, there is an unwavering malice hidden behind his perfect smile and beautifully curled hair, and something creepy about the way he swoops in, just after the death of India's father, and instantly captures the affection of the family matriarch, played by Nicole Kidman, who is a delight, despite having a rather small role, with less weight being given to the character, yet she still manages to capture the instability of a woman being driven mad by the changes in her family, and who is being driven further and further into instability by the incestuous relationships in her life.

Thematically the film deals with the themes of incest, family troubles, bad blood and the relationships we have with our parents, in fact this film is far more successful at highlighting parent child issues than the place beyond the pines, and ironically is much less overt in ist attempt to highlight these issues. The film uses traditional thriller motifs, such as spiders and footsteps, and contains many homages to old horror movies such as swinging lights, and strange sounds. The film is also a successful homage to old Hitchcock movies, and uses many of the same motifs, such as many of the pivotal moments taking place on stairs, such as many of the conversations between the characters and the final confrontation between the three main characters. Another Hitchcock motif used is the train being used as a metaphor for sexual climax, In fact one of the sex scenes in the movie takes place near a train track in the woods, and sounds of the train are heard at pivotal moments.

Now we come to the negatives, although the film has a good universal story, in fact the story itself is timeless, and we never find out where the story is set, we only in fact have one indication that the story is set during the present day, with one of the characters mentioning 1994 as the year of an eighteen year old's birth, and with various flashes of technology. The story becomes sloppy towards the end, using unnecessary twist towards the end in order to tie up all the loose ends of the plot, loose ends which do not necessarily need to be tied up, and which would be better suggested, rather than explicitly shown on film.

Overall this is an stunningly film, elegantly shot and featuring great performances, which is delightfully understated, a rarity in our modern cinematic universe, in short if you like thrillers, this film really is as good and entertaining as any, and is a cinematographic delight. In short, a wonderful homage to a universe of thrillers, and a surely handled, well acted 99 minutes of suspense. Rating: A-

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