Stoker’s Gothic thrills and an action-packed Chinese blockbuster

MIA Wasikowska, one of the most exciting young actors this country has produced in recent years, stars in Stoker.

Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska play mother and daughter in Stoker.

MIA Wasikowska is one of the most exciting young actresses this country has produced in recent years. If you have never seen the HBO series In Treatment (2008-10), in which she played a troubled young gymnast under the care of psychologist Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne), you’ve missed one of the great dramas of the past decade.

Since then, her film choices — including Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Only Lovers Left Alive and Tracks — have been serious, and often critically acclaimed, if not always box-office hits.

In Stoker (Thursday, 8.30pm, Thriller), she stars alongside Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode and Dermot Mulroney, with Jacki Weaver making the trifecta of Australian actors.

Wasikowska plays India Stoker, a young woman dealing with the death of her beloved father (Mulroney), her fragile and distant mother (Kidman), the return of an uncle she didn’t know she had (Goode), and her own coming-of-age.

As the title would suggest, the visual mood of the film is gothic: spiders crawl up pale thighs, Uncle Charlie never seems to eat (or blink), and people keep disappearing.

But the movie doesn’t quite live up to those genre pretensions; it is perhaps more accurately a psychological thriller.

Kidman is emotionally inert for most of the film, until she erupts with venom directed at her daughter: “Personally speaking, I can’t wait to see life tear you apart.” An imperfect, but still interesting film from South Korean director Park Chan-wook.

Journey to the West (Tuesday, 6am, Action) is said to be one of the highest grossing Chinese films of all time. What I know for sure is you could not fit one more ounce of kung fu, comedy, romance or indeed one more demon into this spectacular film.

Based on one of the canonical texts of Chinese Taoism — best known in this country by the 1970s TV show Monkey Magic — it stars Shu Qi as Miss Duan, a demon hunter, who is also on the lookout for love. The object of her affections is Sanzang (Wen Zhang), a demon-hunting wannabe who learned his trade from the text of a nursery rhyme. It also features a pig demon, a monkey king and an old monk with a foot of Monty Python proportions. Tremendous fun.

For a masterclass in drama, look no further than 1996’s Secrets & Lies (Sunday, 8.30pm, Fox Classics) starring Brenda Blethyn and Timothy Spall. Directed by Mike Leigh (Mr Turner) and earning five Oscar nominations, it tells the story of a successful young black woman (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) who traces the identity of her birth mother (Blethyn).

Blethyn’s character Cynthia is all “sweetheart” and “darlin’ ”, but under Leigh’s direction, which includes remorselessly long camera shots, her abundant humanity is revealed.

Secrets & Lies (M)

4 stars

Sunday, 8.30pm, Fox Classics

Journey to the West (M)

3.5 stars

Tuesday, 6am, Action

Stoker (MA15+)

3 stars

Thursday, 8.30pm, Thriller