Hello friends!
Let's start this weekend with a movie review and a suggestion, or maybe not... Once again we have watched a film and I would like to comment on, hoping that it might be useful, or simply a recommendation to see it. Although in this case, I would almost recommend not doing so. Even so, as it has somehow caught my attention, I did not want to miss the opportunity to give my opinion. Reviews do not always have to be enthusiastic recommendations for you to watch the movie as well.
This movie is called Stoker, and it's on HBO MAX now, and I am going to share my impressions but this time because it left me somewhat surprised, I was certainly expecting something else and in the end I didn't like it... but I want to comment on why.
What is this about?
Apparently it is a 2013 film, but it recently appeared on HBO MAX and it was one of the most watched and it made me curious. The image already caught my attention, three people, a family, some relevant actors with a strange gesture, certainly strange.
And it is about a mother and a daughter, who lose their husband and father, and after this tragic loss, supposedly in a traffic accident, they welcome the brother of the deceased into their home, years away from home, but who returns to stay for a while.
But it is strangely mysterious, calm, polite, but very mysterious. And the girl who is certainly very strange, apparently already before but, since the funeral, her relationship with her mother does not seem to be very conventional either, because the mother is somewhat naive and childish, and absent... not a normal mother. So the triple relationship is that, weird.
On the one hand, the girl approaches her uncle with curiosity, he seems to approach her, with intentions that, although in the film are not manifestly erotic, could be understood and I did not like that at all. Everything related to p***philia is disgusting, and I don't think it's a good approach or a look that should even be considered. So I've thought about what kind of mind those who direct and write scripts have.
On the other hand, the weak character of the mother, who quickly becomes attracted to her late husband's brother, which is not very edifying either. Too many dysfunctional "familiar" relationships in my opinion.
[SPOILER] Things happen, more and more gruesome, strange disappearances of some people and somewhat erratic behavior of the girl, and a murder that makes us understand many other things. All with a somewhat psychopathic tone (hence the looks in the photographs), which will finally be confirmed when more is known about the past life of the man (when he and his brother were children) who has appeared now that his brother had died. But how did he die? I won't say any more...
The characters & The plot
I must say that I decided to watch the film because of the cast, really good renowned actors.
On the one hand Nicole Kidman, always prolific, in so many films with so many different roles and always impeccable, although I didn't like the role of the mother in this film, but she played it well, but it's not very relevant or deep, a pity. Then there's Matthew Goode, who I loved, I had seen him many years ago in first films more for television, not so relevant, and little by little he became more famous. I like him in roles from another era like in Downton Abbey for example. On the other hand, in this film, in which he practically plays a sick psychopath, I didn't like him, I can't imagine him like that, even though he plays the role well.
[SPOILER] And finally the protagonist, I think Mia Wasikowska is somewhat well-known, but I hadn't identified her. It seems that the character has a complex personality, but I only see a strange girl with a certain social problem or something weird, but anyway, in the end she's a psychopath anyway.
Anything else to comment?
I would say that the plot is actually bland, rather flat and obvious. Also the story is very slow, really slow, and at times it gets boring, because nothing happens. Some symbolism, strange faces, uncomfortable situations, others disturbing, mysteries... and in the end it is about psychopaths, and apparently this impulse is inherited? I don't know if it is some kind of justification for people who are evil, or have some mental problem or to romanticize them in a way that is, I would say harshly, infamous. It's perturbing and it doesn't work for me.
Then I think about the title of the film, the surname, everyone's surname, Stoker, which curiously is also that of Bram Stoker, the writer of Dracula. So maybe there is some relation, although the case of Dracula seemed more sincere and clear to me, after all it is a fictional legend, while the film exposes people with this psychopathy and without any kind of empathy, with strange impulses that are rejectable, and that unfortunately exist too many in real life.
Honestly I still don't quite understand what the director's intention was with this, and what kind of mind, the scripts that wrote this story that I honestly wouldn't have watched if I had known what it was about. Because I thought it would be very different, but until you watch it you don't know.
I have been telling so much. Despite my review, maybe you like the movie, so if you are interested in you can watch it on MAX
More information about the movie and all the shared images here:
Original title: Stoker (2023) - IMDB: Stoker
Thanks for reading! Have a nice and cool day.
The text is totally mine by ©Duvinca
The images screenshots and some info are from imbd.com and the lead image has been done by me using Canva.com
