Stoker was an odd film. Odd, but great. The more I sit and think about it and the crawling manner in which it chooses to tell its story, the more I realize that the movie may have been one of my favorites of 2013. I know people who thought that Chan-wook Park’s first American film would be more insane (along the lines of Oldboy), but the reality is, that is not what they got. Instead, Stoker was a slow-burn movie about an oddly mysterious man who comes into one family and completely changes the dynamic of that family.
Stoker is deep and there are many levels to it. I suspect it will be like an Eyes Wide Shut type movie where it takes us years and years to figure out all the symbolism and subtext, but at the heart of the story you have a young girl who seems very boxed in by life. Her “uncle” Charlie Stoker comes along after her Dad dies, and she begins to discover some aspects about her own dark side that she never knew existed.
Flash forward and India (the daughter, who is the key element to the film) is being assaulted in the woods by a young boy she was fooling around with (and whom she bit. Yes, the Stoker name alludes to vampirism in many ways as well). Then, uncle Charlie Stoker shows up and kills him (while he is still inside her). They both bury the body. The next scene then shows India Stoker is in the shower masturbating to Charlie killing the boy.
Come on, this is Chan-wook Park. What did you expect? Sunshine and flowers?
Nope, instead you get a teen girl masturbating to her uncle killing someone who is raping her. And that my friends, is disturbing.
