Stoker is the new movie by director Chan-wook Park, who previously made such movies as Oldboy (soon to have a Hollywood remake by Spike Lee!) and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, among others.

It is a simple tale of a young woman whose father has just died. She meets her mysterious uncle, who she didn’t know existed, on the day of the funeral. Her uncle is welcomed into the house of his departed brother and lives with them, slowly manipulating both characters of Mother and Daughter to his own devices.

It stars Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, and while Kidman is the name that jumps out at you from the list, her role is the smallest of the three. The pivotal part of the movie is the relationship between Uncle and Niece (Wasikowska and Goode), and just why the the older man is so fascinated by his niece.

What really drew me into this movie was it’s sense of style. The cinematography of Chung-hoon Chung (who has worked with Chan-wook Park throughout his career) is stunning, and each scene is lush and raw. There is a sense of fairy tale about the peice, with mysterious uncles, keys for unknown locks etc, and this is developed in the imagery of the movie. There are a number of photographic devices that were new to me in this movie, and it really helps to draw the viewer in. It is rare that the cinematography of a film can have such an impact, but this is impossible to ignore.

There is something powerful about a movie that makes you look on the world in a different way (at least for a little while) when you leave the cinema, and this movie had that sort of impact on me. Go to see it, for a sumptuous feast for the eyes!