Thirst (2009)
(Bakjwi)
Country: KOR/US
Technical: col/2.35:1 134/148m
Director: Park Chan-wook
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Dong-soo Seo, Park In-hwan, Kim Ok-bin, Eriq Ebouaney
Synopsis:
A priest who above all wants to help others materially, volunteers for a high-risk pharmaceutical research experiment and succumbs to the pathogen as all others do. However, he survives, albeit disfigured, only to discover in himself an unquenchable thirst for blood and sudden appetite for sex, which he lavishes on the slave wife of the cretin whose family and friends he meets weekly for gambling.
Review:
Far too long and, if slitting and sucking are a problem for you, hard to watch at times, Chan-wook's vampire film, which is also clearly inspired by Zola's Thérèse Raquin, is bizarre in its premise and unconventional in its resolution, which is part and parcel of the religious vein running through the story. Sang-hyun is the most humane and scrupulous vampire you ever saw, and much of the fun of the movie lies in the clash between his conscience-stricken response to his predicament (hanging bodies over the bath so that none of the blood is wasted) and Tae-ju's gleeful and wanton enjoyment of her newfound powers. Which said, if vampire sex and suicide pacts are sufficient to rekindle your enthusiasm for blood-sucking, then this might be for you. For most of us, I suspect, it is the equivalent of fifty Hail Marys.
(Bakjwi)
Country: KOR/US
Technical: col/2.35:1 134/148m
Director: Park Chan-wook
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Dong-soo Seo, Park In-hwan, Kim Ok-bin, Eriq Ebouaney
Synopsis:
A priest who above all wants to help others materially, volunteers for a high-risk pharmaceutical research experiment and succumbs to the pathogen as all others do. However, he survives, albeit disfigured, only to discover in himself an unquenchable thirst for blood and sudden appetite for sex, which he lavishes on the slave wife of the cretin whose family and friends he meets weekly for gambling.
Review:
Far too long and, if slitting and sucking are a problem for you, hard to watch at times, Chan-wook's vampire film, which is also clearly inspired by Zola's Thérèse Raquin, is bizarre in its premise and unconventional in its resolution, which is part and parcel of the religious vein running through the story. Sang-hyun is the most humane and scrupulous vampire you ever saw, and much of the fun of the movie lies in the clash between his conscience-stricken response to his predicament (hanging bodies over the bath so that none of the blood is wasted) and Tae-ju's gleeful and wanton enjoyment of her newfound powers. Which said, if vampire sex and suicide pacts are sufficient to rekindle your enthusiasm for blood-sucking, then this might be for you. For most of us, I suspect, it is the equivalent of fifty Hail Marys.
(Bakjwi)
Country: KOR/US
Technical: col/2.35:1 134/148m
Director: Park Chan-wook
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Dong-soo Seo, Park In-hwan, Kim Ok-bin, Eriq Ebouaney
Synopsis:
A priest who above all wants to help others materially, volunteers for a high-risk pharmaceutical research experiment and succumbs to the pathogen as all others do. However, he survives, albeit disfigured, only to discover in himself an unquenchable thirst for blood and sudden appetite for sex, which he lavishes on the slave wife of the cretin whose family and friends he meets weekly for gambling.
Review:
Far too long and, if slitting and sucking are a problem for you, hard to watch at times, Chan-wook's vampire film, which is also clearly inspired by Zola's Thérèse Raquin, is bizarre in its premise and unconventional in its resolution, which is part and parcel of the religious vein running through the story. Sang-hyun is the most humane and scrupulous vampire you ever saw, and much of the fun of the movie lies in the clash between his conscience-stricken response to his predicament (hanging bodies over the bath so that none of the blood is wasted) and Tae-ju's gleeful and wanton enjoyment of her newfound powers. Which said, if vampire sex and suicide pacts are sufficient to rekindle your enthusiasm for blood-sucking, then this might be for you. For most of us, I suspect, it is the equivalent of fifty Hail Marys.