Thoughts I had while watching that "STOKER" tease
Saturday, September 22, 2012 at 8:11PM As you may now Park Chang-wook of Thirst fame has trained his keen cruel eye on something a little less supernatural and subtitled for his next film Stoker. We got the first taste of it on Entertainment Tonight days ago but... you know... (how long do you think I can milk this "but I have pneumonia!!!" excuse?). So herewith some unedited thoughts I had while watching it...
Personally speaking I can't wait to see life tear you apart."
• Love La Kidman lashing out. These opening eye daggers reminded me more than a little of The Golden Compass and I mean that as a compliment. That book trilogy was beyond and Nicole Kidman really got that character (Mrs Coulter) so it's such a pity that the movie didn't really get the book and the ending didn't even get the ending and no other movies will be gotten to get it all retroactively like! I have pneumonia.
• I'm tickled that this isn't a biopic on Bram Stoker!
video and more thoughts after the jump...
• Stake those biopics through the heart, filmmakers. Kill that genre dead for at least a few years. Like a zombie it will return to chew on historic brains but until the great rising...
• I'm so pleased that this doesn't appear to be about vampires or writing about vampires either despite the title.
• Some of the pale self-loathing on display does bring up very fond memories of Ok-bin Kim in Thirst (I'm still so proud of that Best Actress nomination I handed her even if people were like what the what now?)
• I'm kind of over wan Mia Wasikowska after Lawless and but I can easily be won back if she's aims harder again. That's all it will really take. I'm assuming this is of the Sissy Spacek Badlands easily manipulative morally vacuous killer.
• Is it weird that certain shots feel like direct lifts from Thirst to me or am I just making this up because I loved Thirst?
• Matthew Goode makes me quiver under my bodice.
• Remember when Matthew Goode played Ozymandias in Watchmen?
• Although he was even more perfect casting as ideal boyfriend in A Single Man. Ideal but for the lack of immortality. *sniffle*
• "UNCLE CHARLIE" Hee. Love those Hitchcock references.
• Is the "Uncle" literal? And if so just how incestuous is this movie going to be? More or less than Savage Grace?
• The shot of Matthew Goode leaning back against a piano is... excuse me, I need a moment alone.
• "We don't have to be friends. We're family." Great line.
• I know that some people get sick of Nicole Kidman in breathy-voice mode but I love it. "Of age for what?" is such a great line reading... like she's daring herself to answer her own question.
• That tease was much much too short -- who is Mia pointing her gun at?
• Bring me full trailer this movie immediately.
Reader Comments (35)
I was going between "Hell no. Girl's just warming up" and "I abstain. Ask me again next year," but I can't pass up answering a poll with "NICOLE KIDMAN !!!!!!!"
I was never into her, but I really just don't care either way, so I answered with "NICOLE KIDMAN!!!!!!!"
That teaser did nothing for me though. It was soo stale and blah.
Been waiting for something, anything about this film for too long now, and this short teaser has sated any concerns/apprehensions I may have had (considering the release being pushed back to early 2013 etc). Cannot wait for the full trailer in a few days time. Oh and of course, Kidman looks great - in terms of her performance and style. Everything's so deliciously gothic and the cinematography is absolutely sumptuous!
Ditto what Julian Stark wrote.
Chan-wook Park is not the director of The Host.
It was very creepy and one of the few recent teaser that made me want to see more.
I loved the Golden Compass...so good.
People I think I spy briefly in that teaser: Jacki Weaver, Alden Ehrenreich.
"Of age for what?" Creepy.
NICOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's all.
Noticed after numerous rewatches that the dress Mia is wearing when pointing the gun, is similar if not identical to the one Nicole is wearing in a shot of them sitting at the table (near the end of clip). Hmmm
Bong Joon-ho did The Host (and Mother and Memories of Murder). Park Chan Wook did Oldboy.
I'm generally agnostic as far as Mathew Goode's concerned - and I certainly don't find him attractive - but he was absolutely brilliant at taking an impossibly idealised fantasy in A Single Man and fleshing it out. A very underrated performance - probably my favourite in that film.
goran and pivo -- of course i know this. DAMN PNEUMONIA/FEVER reading this back i was like "what the hell am i talking about? ah well. i shoulda stayed quiet
Jane Eyre is enough of a reason to love Mia Wasikowska
Stupid producers—now all I want is to watch the original Bram Stoker's Dracula. Nathan please tell me you love Sadie Frost?
An open plea to anyone associated with Nicole Kidman's people:
Dear Nicole Kidman,
Throw yourself at the mercy of Paul Thomas Anderson for a role in his next scheduled project Inherent Vice—or beg Yorgos Lanthimos for something to do in English—or change Almodovar's mind on Streep and Winslet instead have you and Judy Davis.
Sincerely, someone who wants to get excited again behind your film projects.
I'm sorry but you tend to be a little too harsh with actors at times.
Mia did wonderful work in Alice in Wonderland, The Kids Are Alright, Jane Eyre!!!
She was also quite good in Albert Nobbs.
She's only 13 years old, so I say the girl deserves credit!
Gah! Can't wait!
Park Chan-Wook's films are so pretty. Love that blue dress and the mustard sweater. And Nicole's eyes have never looked tealer, nor her hair more orange. Now truly is the era of the red-haired blue-eyed movie star!
Plus what is Kim Ok-Bin doing these days?
Interested but Goode's creepiness seems forced to me. Also, Nicole can do that in her sleep.
I liked the teaser and the acting looks great, but is Nicole Kidman actually 45 years old -- for real? She is playing the mother of a teenage daughter but I can't see a single line in her face. I know this is frequently mentioned but it's still weird. She is a good actress, she could afford to age naturally.
Mia was awful in Alice. Ok in the Kids are all right. Bland in Jane Eyre. For me, she's just wooden and bland. She does nothing for me.
Kidman is on a roll. She's got this opening next year and Railway Man and Grace of Monaco as well. I think 2013 will be "her" year, and that she'll get 2 Oscar nominations (lead for Grace of Monaco and supporting for Railway Man). She's slowly getting the respect she deserves. Just this year alone she's getting a tribute at NYFF and the British Film Institute has just released a book about her. The mark of a true legend
Nathaniel... You are always so much easier on Kidman and her choices .... And extremely hard on Streep
You are really going to have to explain to me how you can get more incestuous than Savage Grace.
Nina - Well, I think Game of Thrones at least ties Savage Grace, but we should ask some psychiatrist who knows the incest scale :p
Melissa: She was just (horrendously) miscast in Burton's Alice in Wonderland. That part? It'd fit on Katie Jarvis or someone similar, but, personally, I think Mia Wasikowska is talented enough to do many things (including the "crazy" she's about to do in Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive), but I can't see "badass" as one of them.
Wow Nicole is giving off a very unsettled and unhinged vibe in this, I agree about the similarity with Mrs Coulter this is a whole level of conflicted crazy that Nicole will feast on. Love the teaser, can't wait for the trailer.
Yavor -- that's probably true. You always hurt the ones you love. FTR i think Mia was BRILLIANT in The Kids are All Right and Jane Eyre. The rest of her work has been lacking to me. in quite noticeable ways. I think she needs a strong director or needs more careful casting.
Nina -- LOL
cinephile -- I really don't get why people want Nicole Kidman to look old. 45 is not that old. Plenty of 45 year olds look great. Especially the ones who are movie stars ;) Julianne Moore is older than this and she hardly has tons of wear and tear on her face.
4rtful -- i think Sadie Frost is beyond in Bram Stoker's Dracula, so, yes.
Jamie -- what you say may well be true but as soon as Streep pushes herself the way Kidman regularly pushes herself my tune will change. As soon as Streep does a Dogville and a Birth back-to-back I will change my tune! If all actresses decided "next year is my Kidman year" and sought really challenging auteurs and complicated risky portrayals ... ohmygod imagine how quickly we'd separate the wheat from the chaff and see who really has the goods or not?!
not that i think of Streep as lazy (I emphatically do not) just enamored of comfort and safety in her projects... which is different than laziness because she hardly phones it in.
Last really daring Streep role: ADAPTATION. That was 10 years ago! She is one of the only actresses in the world who can get projects funded. She should use her powers for good is all I'm saying.
Kidman was the best visual effect in "The Golden Compass"
@ Nathaniel.....I agree with most of that. I would also love it if Streep chose riskier/challenging projects. I think she is at a point where she feels she has nothing to prove??
What you are saying is that with Streep it's "tough love".....
Goode is literally an uncle.
@SVG Ok-vin Kim did a comedy called Over My Dead Body last year. It was laughably bad unfortunately. She has a fake documentary by Jae-yong Lee ("Untold Scandal" "Actresses") which will debut in Busan Film Festival this year. And she'll do a SF film called AM 11:00 later this year.
Thanks Jaehyun Lee!
At least she seems to be doing stuff again. Her imdb is so sparse.
Aww, I really liked Mia Wasikowksa in Lawless. Sure, she was pretty sassy for a preacher's daughter, but then again, what kind of a preacher's daughter dates an outlaw and ends up marrying him, despite nearly having been killed/injured during a date with him? I thought she did pretty well for a role that was eye candy and nothing else. I found her incredibly charming in it.
I'm writing on this blog because the Emmys are so freaking dull.
I miss the old days of Nicole, when she still had the crazy hair and her own collagen. True, she's some done amazing work in the last 5 years, with Rabbit Hole among others, but I pine for Cate Blanchett. However, both of them are absolute stunners on the red carpet.
Mia W is one to watch, but Saorise Ronan will surpass her in the acting honors. They have both landed big roles in period films so we'll see in 2013/2014.
Nicole in full on Mo'Nique mode is something I want to see on an endless loop.
Jaragon - amen.
@NathanielR Have you noticed? Near the end of this trailer at the dinner table scene,Nicole is wearing the same dress as Mia when she was pointing the gun. Maybe there's some clue to what the plot would be.