Saturday, 16 March 2013

On Style and Stoker


South Korean director, Chan-Wook Park, most known for his violent revenge films has, under the radar, released a gothic, American psychological thriller that is one of the best films of the year so far.
Park manages to make Gothic stylish with his inventive camera work and beautifully designed sets. 

Yet this is far from style without substance, the film is gripping, despite being slowly paced. The acting is terrific, making us consistently question the motives of the characters. While being a far from original story, or far from original characters, Stoker treats this story of misidentification and family relations with a unique eye. Most notable is Park’s use of sound that cleverly links the scenes and recalls past narrative features to link characters and narrative threads.

Already massively respected for his foreign language films, Park has shown no diminishing quality in tackling an English language story. Should not be forgotten in the next awards season. 

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