08-14-2009, 12:20 PM
I went to see an advance screening of Thirst (from the same director of Oldboy and Sympathy For Mr Vengeance) last night, and wasn't really sure what to make of it. Have you ever watched a movie that had so many great qualities (great acting, lots or gore, thoughtful religious themes and sexual tension) and entertaining aspects (dry humor, lots of tension) to it, yet it just turned out to be a mess (too many confusing plot devices, short bizarre sequences that did not help develop the plot in any way, and certain shots that were overlong and a waste of time) that could have been made into a special film with just the right amount of editing and restraint? This is one example for me. Park could have cut 30 minutes out and re-edited the entire film into one of the most original vampire movies ever, but in the end turned into an unfocused, inconsistent, overdone exercise.
There aren't too many spoilers here, but I thought the following review from AICN reflected my own feelings on the film pretty well, though I don't agree that the film is Park's best. I still prefer his revenge trilogy, but this one could have been his best. 3.5/5 stars.
********POSSIBLE SPOILERS********
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->THIRST
There's no getting around the fact that Chan-wook Park is not only South Korea's finest filmmaker, but one of the most thoughtful and crushingly honest writer-directors working anywhere in the world. There is nothing more sacred to him than getting to the truth of the characters in his often-horrific plots. Yes, I believe he engages in a bit of button pushing, but he's earned the right to do so because he handles every subject he rips into with a maturity that is matched only by the giddy sense he seems to enjoy at getting away with exposing formerly taboo topic with a certain level of dignity and grace. His JSA: JOINT SECURITY AREA is the first film I ever saw that addressed the status of the relationship between North and South Korea; his vengeance trilogy (SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE, OLD BOY, and LADY VENGEANCE) cover so much fertile ground in dealing with revenge killing, incest and all sorts of juicy stuff. I recently caught up with his take on mental illness, I'M A CYBORG, AND THAT'S OK, and absolutely loved it, even as I felt pity for the lead characters. And now we have what might be Park's masterpiece, THIRST.
I never in my wildest dreams would have believed that after LET THE RIGHT ONE IN In so skillfully rewrote the book on vampire movies that another director would go ahead and not only do the same, but also rip apart the rule book and scatter the pages to the wind. Park has stripped away nearly all of the mysticism, gloss and ego associated with so many vampire stories of late and replaced them with animal sexuality; raw, often ugly, emotion; gruesome, messy violence; and layer upon layer of guilt, thanks to the lead vampire character also happening to be a priest. In this film, the priest (played by THE HOST's Song Kang-ho) volunteers for medical experiments as a way of hopefully giving back life to unfortunates. Instead, the experimental drug he is given nearly kills him, and he is given a blood transfusion that is infected... by a vampire, eventually turning the priest into a creature that craves blood. Since the priest has no desire to kill other human for blood, he visits the hospital where he sometimes works and sets up what are essentially feeding stations next to coma patients. The priest siphons off small amounts of blood from these patients in the middle of the night--no harm, no foul.
Except things do turn foul, when the priest falls for Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin), the wife of a childhood friend. She tells the priest stories about being beaten by her lout of a husband and has the bruises to prove it, and soon the two are engaged in some acrobatic sex, following shortly by gentle begging by Tae-ju to help her get rid of her husband one way or another. One of the great joys of THIRST is watching the slow, sad deterioration of the priest's morality and vows during the course of the film. At his core, he's a good man, but his lust for blood, carnal knowledge, and to be seen as something of a miracle man contributes to his decay as a human.
Soon the priest and Tae-ju embrace both their insane sexual urges and their blood lust. Maybe more than any other recent vampire film, Thirst shows us just how truly messy ripping open a person's throat can really be. This film skimps on nothing as a bloody exercise and an emotional typhoon that builds upon the priest's guilty feelings for becoming murderer and turning someone else into one (unlike the priest, Tae-ju can't wait to start killing once her transformation is complete). It's rare to see a horror film of any kind with this kind of character development and depth, and Thirst has both to spare. The movie is also visually rich, thanks to Park's regular cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung, who adds a cold, raw feeling to every seen, but also knows when to allow color (usually red) to enter this world with striking results.
Aside from one or two short dead spots in the middle of the film, making it feel a touch overlong, THIRST is damn near perfect at every turn. There's a sequence in which some visitors come visit the new couple, where Tae-ju's infirm mother-in-law is attempting to communicate that the two vampires have killed her son. It's unreal how much tension is built up in this sequence, which is punctuated with an eruption of unprecedented gore. It's pretty tasty, and the film is magnificent.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
There aren't too many spoilers here, but I thought the following review from AICN reflected my own feelings on the film pretty well, though I don't agree that the film is Park's best. I still prefer his revenge trilogy, but this one could have been his best. 3.5/5 stars.
********POSSIBLE SPOILERS********
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->THIRST
There's no getting around the fact that Chan-wook Park is not only South Korea's finest filmmaker, but one of the most thoughtful and crushingly honest writer-directors working anywhere in the world. There is nothing more sacred to him than getting to the truth of the characters in his often-horrific plots. Yes, I believe he engages in a bit of button pushing, but he's earned the right to do so because he handles every subject he rips into with a maturity that is matched only by the giddy sense he seems to enjoy at getting away with exposing formerly taboo topic with a certain level of dignity and grace. His JSA: JOINT SECURITY AREA is the first film I ever saw that addressed the status of the relationship between North and South Korea; his vengeance trilogy (SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE, OLD BOY, and LADY VENGEANCE) cover so much fertile ground in dealing with revenge killing, incest and all sorts of juicy stuff. I recently caught up with his take on mental illness, I'M A CYBORG, AND THAT'S OK, and absolutely loved it, even as I felt pity for the lead characters. And now we have what might be Park's masterpiece, THIRST.
I never in my wildest dreams would have believed that after LET THE RIGHT ONE IN In so skillfully rewrote the book on vampire movies that another director would go ahead and not only do the same, but also rip apart the rule book and scatter the pages to the wind. Park has stripped away nearly all of the mysticism, gloss and ego associated with so many vampire stories of late and replaced them with animal sexuality; raw, often ugly, emotion; gruesome, messy violence; and layer upon layer of guilt, thanks to the lead vampire character also happening to be a priest. In this film, the priest (played by THE HOST's Song Kang-ho) volunteers for medical experiments as a way of hopefully giving back life to unfortunates. Instead, the experimental drug he is given nearly kills him, and he is given a blood transfusion that is infected... by a vampire, eventually turning the priest into a creature that craves blood. Since the priest has no desire to kill other human for blood, he visits the hospital where he sometimes works and sets up what are essentially feeding stations next to coma patients. The priest siphons off small amounts of blood from these patients in the middle of the night--no harm, no foul.
Except things do turn foul, when the priest falls for Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin), the wife of a childhood friend. She tells the priest stories about being beaten by her lout of a husband and has the bruises to prove it, and soon the two are engaged in some acrobatic sex, following shortly by gentle begging by Tae-ju to help her get rid of her husband one way or another. One of the great joys of THIRST is watching the slow, sad deterioration of the priest's morality and vows during the course of the film. At his core, he's a good man, but his lust for blood, carnal knowledge, and to be seen as something of a miracle man contributes to his decay as a human.
Soon the priest and Tae-ju embrace both their insane sexual urges and their blood lust. Maybe more than any other recent vampire film, Thirst shows us just how truly messy ripping open a person's throat can really be. This film skimps on nothing as a bloody exercise and an emotional typhoon that builds upon the priest's guilty feelings for becoming murderer and turning someone else into one (unlike the priest, Tae-ju can't wait to start killing once her transformation is complete). It's rare to see a horror film of any kind with this kind of character development and depth, and Thirst has both to spare. The movie is also visually rich, thanks to Park's regular cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung, who adds a cold, raw feeling to every seen, but also knows when to allow color (usually red) to enter this world with striking results.
Aside from one or two short dead spots in the middle of the film, making it feel a touch overlong, THIRST is damn near perfect at every turn. There's a sequence in which some visitors come visit the new couple, where Tae-ju's infirm mother-in-law is attempting to communicate that the two vampires have killed her son. It's unreal how much tension is built up in this sequence, which is punctuated with an eruption of unprecedented gore. It's pretty tasty, and the film is magnificent.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->