Park Chan-wook's reverence for Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch shines through in his English-language debut, Stoker. It's a tightly wound thriller with psychosexual undertones and shocking — yet artful — violence in which, it seems, no detail is accidental and the details, both visual and auditory, add up to a lavish cinematic experience. more »
When South Korean genre iconoclast Park Chan-wook decided to bring his peculiar gifts to a Stateside production, anything could have happened — and anything pretty much does in Stoker, a splendidly demented gumbo of Hitchcock thriller, American Gothic fairy tale and a contemporary kink all Park's own. Led by a brilliant Mia Wasikowska as an introverted teenager whose personal and sexual awakening arrives with the unraveling of a macabre family mystery, this exquisitely designed and scored pic will bewilder as many viewers as it bewitches, making ancillary immortality a safer bet than Black Swan-style crossover biz for Fox Searchlight's marvelously mad March hare. more »
Park Chan-wook is one of a few successful Korean filmmakers attempting an English-language foray into Hollywood this year (also see: Kim Jee-woon's Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle The Last Stand) and his moody March thriller Stoker continues to tease with a new clip ahead of its Sundance debut this weekend. Take a peek at just under two minutes of Nicole Kidman absolutely owning the screen with a riveting, sinister mother-daughter chat opposite Mia Wasikowska.
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