Mia Wasikowska is everywhere. The elfin darling of the indie elite (who has been known to slum it for the odd blockbuster, like breakthrough “Alice in Wonderland”), she has sustained the critical momentum of the pajama-clad daughter in “The Kids Are All Right” to dominate the Sundance acting conversation with “Stoker.” This summer, according to Ion Cinema, she will be trekking into “Sound of Music” country to film an Alpine meditation with Euro-stalwart Juliette Binoche.

“Sils Maria” reteams the “Summer Hours” duo of Binoche and director Olivier Assayas, though she’s been absent from his recent films like “Carlos” and “Something In The Air.” Set in the eponymous Swiss town, a floral hangout for 19th and 20th century intellectuals (Nietzsche’s old pad is now a tourist attraction), the picture will explore middle-age and the perception of one’s own success. Binoche, now something of a veteran herself, plays a famous actress haunted by roles of the past, with Wasikowska as her assistant.

Assayas told us of the project last year, “I’ve written it for Juliette Binoche, it’s based on her. A Juliette Binoche movie about Juliette Binoche with Juliette Binoche. It will be in English and part of the cast will be American.” And right he was. The film’s got funding lined up, so this feels like a definite possibility for Cannes 2014. Ms. Wasikowska, in the meantime, has at least five films on the way, from Richard Ayoade’s sophomore film, “The Double,” to Jim Jarmusch’s “Only Lovers Left Alive,” we’ll be seeing her around a fair bit this summer. Binoche, meanwhile, will move on to the project once she wraps a rare blockbuster excursion, on Gareth Edwards’ “Godzilla.”

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In the visually stunning, stunningly perverse “Stoker”, Mia Wasikowska stars as a special teenage girl who finds herself very much alone after her father’s sudden death. Trapped in a home with her needy mother (Nicole Kidman), a mysterious Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) whom she never knew existed, and an eerily enhanced sense of sound, Wasikowska’s India Stoker is forced to acclimate to a twisted new family dynamic. The film, which is the English-language debut of South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook, made its world premiere at Sundance Sunday night. And while some critics took issue with minor holes in the plot and a supporting role for Nicole Kidman that could have been made more substantial, its arresting cinematography (by Chan-wook collaborator Chung-hon Chung) compensates for any shortcomings. Full of oblique angles, a pastel palette to offset the morbid story, and creepy cutaways (one extreme close-up shows India sharpening the blood-soaked pencil she just used as a weapon), the film is always lovely to watch, even during its most disturbing sequences.

Equally lovely and disturbing is Wasikowska’s performance as an 18-year-old who finds herself inexplicably attracted to her strange uncle, despite the fact that she does not like to be touched. (Their chemistry is teased in one erotically charged piano duet that leaves her panting.) With her particular cocktail of eccentricities, horror appeal, and Sissy Spacek complexion, Wasikowska recalls another seemingly shy high-school character profiled on film: Carrie, the Stephen King heroine who wreaks havoc on her hometown. They aren’t carbon copies—India does not have telekinetic powers or a Christian-fundamentalist upbringing. But like Carrie, India has an unstable mother, is relentlessly bullied at school, and crosses that fine line between sheltered innocence and a frighteningly violent nature. She gets revenge on a few classmates, is sexually confused, lacks a father, and is a loner. India also appears in a dramatic shower scene that depicts a pivotal moment in her physical maturation. It does not involve blood or fellow classmates, but it occurs after a gruesome event and is Wasikowska’s boldest scene.

After the premiere of the film, which is full of suspenseful plot twists and red herrings, Park Chan-wook was asked about his inspirations for “Stoker”. And while he did not cite Carrie, the filmmaker did refer to another legend of the genre. Through a translator, Chan-wook explained, “There wasn’t any intention in my direction to consciously make this a Hitchcock-ian film. Rather, I wanted to get a little bit away from that and that’s why at one stage I suggested we change the name from Charlie to something else. . . . Having seen the film like this [though], not only Shadow of a Doubt [which also features an Uncle Charlie], but I must have been influenced a little bit by Psycho as well.”

Fox Searchlight has snapped up the picture, which will open in theaters in limited release this March.

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India Song: Park-wook’s English Language is Stylized Creepy and Kooky

Park Chan-wook StokerSouth Korean master Park Chan-wook returns with his English language debut, Stoker, a heavily stylized mystery thriller that’s a grotesquely decorated façade with a heart as cold as ice. Based on a screenplay by actor Wentworth Miller (and contributing writer Erin Cressida Wilson), and featuring a dazzlingly assembled cast, there’s a conglomeration of odd elements at hand here, creating a final product that feels as banal as it is strange, and as foreign as it is mainstream. Presenting itself as a densely constructed narrative, the film instead reveals itself to be a simple tale made more complicated by the way it’s edited together. Operating mostly on its significant use of slow burn narrative and creepy details, it reaches a fast boil in its final frames, which may be too little and too late for most audiences. But one can’t deny the broody elements of the film that come back to tease and haunt.

On her eighteenth birthday, India Stoker’s (Mia Wasikowska) father Richard (Dermot Mulroney) dies in a terrible car accident, and she’s left alone with her distant mother, Evie (Nicole Kidman). After his funeral, Richard’s mysterious brother Charlie (Matthew Goode) appears, who only the housekeeper Mrs. McGarrick (Phyllis Somerville) uneasily seems to recognize. He ingratiates himself upon Evie and India, and seems to have a particular fascination with everything India does. A pale and precocious child that has a phobia of being touched, India seems alarmed and intrigued at the flirtatious interests of her uncle, and they both share a preternatural audio ability. On the other hand, Evie seems extremely warm to the advances of the handsome Charlie and barely notices when Mrs. McGarrick suddenly disappears, and doesn’t seem suspicious when an unexpected visit from Aunt Gin (Jacki Weaver) also ends mysteriously. While India gets involved in a precarious relationship with Whip Taylor (Alden Ehrenreich), a boy at school, the mystery surrounding Charlie’s dark past slowly start to surface.

Stoker owes most of its morbid beauty to the cinematography of Chung-hoon Chung, who regularly works with Park-wook. While their latest collaboration may feel less over-the-top than some of their flashier titles, like the insane visuals of Lady Vengeance (2005), it often has the tendency to feel overdressed for its own occasion. But even if by the time it wraps itself up, and it feels like no great mystery has been unearthed, the strengths of Stoker by far make up for any of its minor deficiencies.

Wasikowska is excellent as the quietly intense India and her interactions with the dashing Charlie are foreboding and creepy. Likewise, a predatory Nicole Kidman is excellent as India’s distant mother, providing most of the film’s slight comic relief with her bitchy behavior and the yearning sexual glances gracing her porcelain visage. Peppered with brief moments of blood and violence, spiders crawling between legs, an incestuous sexual bond laced with murder, multiple disappearances and hints of a deep rooted familial dysfunction, Park-wook’s latest is the coming of age tale of a tantalizing and monstrous female.

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Linda Woolverton who has worked on 2010s 3D fantasy box office hit Alice in Wonderland and has a long history with Disney is reportedly penning the sequel.

Mouse House stalwart Woolverton has written the story of movies such as Mulan, released in 1998, and 1994 The Lion King, not to mention Beauty and the Beast and Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. She is also currently working on the upcoming movie Maleficent, scheduled to be released in 2013.

Tim Burton’s big screen live action take on Alice starred Mia Wasikowska in the title role and Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.

This will marks Woolverton’s third Alice screenplay as she also wrote the script for the musical stage version currently in the works by Disney Theatrical Productions, which Rob Ashford will helm as a direct adaptation of the 2010 feature.

In addition to Tron 3 that has effectively begun negotiations with Jesse Wigutow to come on board as the new scribe, this is the second high-profile sequel revealed to be in development in the last few days and the latest fantasy tale Disney is currently lensing or developing (Cinderella, Peter and the Starcatchers and Magic Kingdom).

At this point it’s unclear whether or not Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are interested in returning.

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