Visual Beauty and Meticulous Detail

Upon watching the film, the first thing that strikes you is its overwhelming visual beauty. The main characters are India and two others, and the setting is primarily their home, yet there's a peculiar, dreamlike sense of detachment. However, the meticulously crafted details lend it a solid reality, drawing the audience deeply into the screen.




"The film is confined to a specific location and a limited number of characters. Furthermore, there are no shootouts or grand dramatic events. Therefore, I had to build tension and fear by accumulating small details. In that sense, details are the 'lifeblood' of this film."

The fear gradually intensifies as you become more engrossed, and the tension mounts, making your chest ache.

"As an example of my attention to detail, there's a wine scene. On that day, Uncle Charlie and the mother go shopping in town, and Charlie chooses a wine. That evening, while drinking the wine, the mother says:

'Wine is best when it's old. Young wines can be too green, not yet ready to drink.'

This is an erotic metaphor from the mother, implying that she is more sexually attractive and appealing than her daughter India within their love triangle. India seems indifferent to her mother's words, and Charlie appears to agree at the moment. However, Charlie's interest has been with India from the start, and the audience clearly understands his true intentions with his next words when he is alone with India.



Indeed, the sonic realism effectively enhances the horror. The creaking of the wooden stairs resonates with the metronome, and even the faint sound of a small spider crawling on the floor sends a shiver down your spine.

"I believe that sound design, beyond music and dialogue, unconsciously influences the audience greatly in film. Few people consciously pay attention to sound while watching a movie, yet it affects everyone in various ways. That's why I pay close attention to creating sound, and I believe it's worth the effort."

Production Began with the Script

The script was written by Wentworth Miller, the star of the hit TV series "Prison Break," marking his first screenplay. However, Director Park also infused his own ideas. For example, the saddle shoes that India received as a birthday gift every year and cherished.

"In the original script, India was a quirky girl who inexplicably wore saddle shoes all the time. Expanding on that idea, I came up with the concept of birthday presents of saddle shoes arriving every year from an unknown sender.

You know how girls sometimes wait for a 'secret admirer,' right? I thought this would express the sensibilities of adolescence. The changing sizes each year would strongly convey the presence of someone 'watching over her without forgetting.' Towards the end of the film, India graduates from saddle shoes to high heels, which was also compelling. The ritual of Charlie having India wear high heels was something we called the 'coronation scene' on set. The one putting them on kneels like a knight placing a crown on a queen."



Similar to the worlds Director Park has depicted in his previous works, the story, with its complex interplay of affections, creates the illusion that the script was written just for him.

"Wentworth Miller's script had a lot of empty space. Not necessarily good or bad, but I felt there were many elements that a director could fill with their own imagination. So, naturally, there were parts that changed depending on how I chose to fill that space with my imagination and direction. If another director had made it, it might have turned into something different. For me, it was a script I truly wanted to make."

And the Astonishing Truth the Story Reaches

The truth gradually comes to light as trivial events in everyday life accumulate. What fate awaits the girl India as she grows into a woman?—?



"How people grow or change, and acquire certain traits – depicting those aspects is something I enjoy, and it's also a theme for me. I believe people have an innate 'tendency' to be easily tempted or swayed by their surroundings. However, not everyone changes just because of that tendency. Even if they do change, how they change differs from person to person.

Like in this film, I find it personally enjoyable to show such human transformations. Regardless, you have to see it for yourself, but just as there are genetic and infectious diseases, I wonder if there are similar factors influencing human change? While the judgment is left to the viewer, in my opinion, India's case might have been an infection."

Viewers are left in a daze by the ending. The catharsis is intense, and the film lingers in your mind long after it's over.

"Although films have undergone many changes, they continue to be a medium best experienced in theaters. This is because audiences must go to the cinema and pay to watch. And for that duration, they must stay inside, without doing anything else, and focus solely on the film. It's a medium that demands concentration and engagement of all senses and the mind. Therefore, as a director, I feel a responsibility to meet that expectation. I must adequately reward the audience for the money they spend, the time they invest, and the effort they put into watching. It's not a film to be watched casually; it's a film where you must concentrate to feel 'something'——a pleasure that can only be obtained through that effort."



STOKER
Now playing at TOHO Cinemas Shinjuku and other theaters nationwide starting Friday, May 31st.
Director: Park Chan-wook
Screenplay: Wentworth Miller
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode
Distribution: 20th Century Fox
2012 / USA / 99 minutes / PG12
http://www.foxmovies.jp/innocent-garden/

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