Stoker

Korean director Park Chan-wook emerged as an international cult figure with acclaimed films such as Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and his English-language debut Stoker certainly exhibits the flamboyant style for which he's famous. Wentworth Miller's script is an obvious homage to Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt: here, a madman named Charlie (Matthew Goode) suddenly reappears at the family homestead and displays a special interest in his niece. But in this steamier take, the girl, India (Mia Wasikowska), is an introverted outsider still in grief over the recent death of her beloved father, Charlie's older brother. And even as Charlie gazes intently in India's direction, he also develops a more-than-platonic relationship with her icily distant but emotionally needy mother (Nicole Kidman). Most troubling, however, is the fact that people seem to disappear suddenly when they fall afoul of Uncle Charlie. The secret of Charlie's long absence is ultimately revealed, although it comes with little surprise. The narrative weakness here is accentuated by Park's decision to create a comic-book world of bizarre, garish images, inhabited by actors delivering deliberately wooden line readings of arch dialogue. Ultimately, the film's visual brilliance can't quite compensate for the myriad other drawbacks. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include the behind-the-scenes featurettes “Mysterious Characters,” “Designing the Look,” and “Creating the Music” (16 min. total), deleted scenes (10 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are “A Filmmaker's Journey” production featurette (28 min.), footage from the red carpet premiere (16 min.), Emily Wells' performance of the soundtrack song “Becomes the Color” (5 min.), image galleries, and a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an uneven film.] (F. Swietek)