Sinister depths: ‘Stoker’ and ‘The Gatekeepers’

By Brian D. Johnson - Friday, March 1, 2013 at 11:19 AM - 0 Comments

Nicole Kidman (left) and Mia Wasikowska in 'Stoker' / photo by Macall Polay, courtesy of Fox Searchlight

Opening this week are two very different movies about killing. Stoker, a diabolical thriller about a toxic family, is an acquired taste. The Gatekeepers, an Oscar-nominated documentary about Israel’s war on terror, is required viewing. Both explore the banality of evil.

Stoker

If you want to replace the grey winter chill with something closer to the marrow—a bright, cold shock of beautiful cruelty—you might consider Stoker, an ultra-stylish horror movie for those who can handle a frisson of incest and like to see their blood splattered with sparse, painterly precision. Stoker marks the English-language debut of Korean filmmaker Park Chan Wook (Old Boy, Lady Vengeance) whose refined sadism has made him a cult favourite, and prize winner, in Cannes.

Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) stars as a privileged young woman named India, whose world is shattered by news that her father has been killed in a car crash on her 18th birthday. Uncle Charlie (Matthew Good), a mysterious man she didn’t know existed, shows up the funeral, acting strange and far too pleased with himself for someone who has just lost his brother. Before long, he has enchanted India’s unhinged mother, Evie (Nicole Kidman), while pursuing her anxious daughter with predatory gleam in his vacant gaze. Directed like Hitchcock on acid, Stoker unfolds from the teenager’s point of view as a perverse coming-of-age story, while Goode, who bears a marked resemblance to Tony Perkins, plays the crazy uncle as if channelling Norman Bates. But as the sexual tension heats up in this incestuous love triangle, it becomes clear that Uncle Charlie is not the only one who’s crazy. The whole family is psycho. Continue…

Video: Four films, one critic

By macleans.ca - Friday, January 18, 2013 at 7:56 AM - 0 Comments

Click here to read Brian D. Johnson’s reviews of  Last Stand, Mama, On the Road and Quartet.

… and watch our video from the TIFF premiere of Quartet where we get on pretty nicely with Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Smith and Billy Connelly on the red carpet

Video: Brian D. Johnson on The Hobbit and Hyde Park on the Hudson

By Jessica Allen - Friday, December 14, 2012 at 10:28 AM - 0 Comments

• Read the full reviews here.

American Thanksgiving, the Grey Cup and a big weekend for movies

By Brian D. Johnson - Thursday, November 22, 2012 at 10:45 AM - 0 Comments

Film critic Brian D. Johnson reviews this weekend’s openings, Life of Pi, Rise of the Guardians and Silver Linings Playbook.