What I Watched -- Stoker

My friend H got free tickets to a screening of Stoker last week, and I agreed to go really having no idea what I was getting into -- but I didn't have anything else to do on that particular night, so why not?

It was a weird, weird movie.  The poster sort of makes it look like a modern, single-child remake of The Addams Family.  It's not.  This movie came from a seriously dark place, and it's really messed up.

At the opening of the film, a man by the name of Richard Stoker dies in a car accident, leaving behind his wife Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) and daughter India (Mia Wasikowska).  Evelyn and India are not close, and their relationship is further strained by the arrival of Richard's long-lost brother Charlie (Matthew Goode) for his funeral.

Something is off about cool-as-a-cucumber Charlie, and you spend much of the movie trying to figure out what he's up to and why.  And it all goes terribly wrong with Evelyn and India.  There's jealousy, there's violence, there's sexual tension.

There's also really interesting camera work - some fantastic shots and scene changes that were  excellently shot.

Bottom line: psycho-sexual drama is certainly not for everyone.