| Thirst |
| Written by Mob | |
Chan-wook Park continues to be one of the most interesting directors working today with his first foray into the horror genre, a film which places a priest into an amazingly conflicted place when he’s turned into a vampire. Sang-hyeon (Song) is a priest that volunteers (for reasons that are never made 100% clear, presumably because it’s a selfless act?) for a dangerous medical experiment involving the Emmanuel Virus, during which he’s given a potential vaccine and EV, to see if he’s able to fight off the disease. He has a good run, but after a month’s time he begins to exhibit signs of EV, with blisters covering his body, then he begins to bleed uncontrollably while play a flute, which is a truly inspired shot that reveals how far along the disease is within his system. The doctors desperately give him a transfusion, but he dies on the table before they can stabilize him, only to have him revive a few minutes later. Six months hence, Sang-hyeon is released from the hospital, covered in bandages as his blisters heal. Having been the single survivor from a study that involved 500 volunteers, he’s something of a minor celebrity. By special request of Lady Ra (Hae-sook Kim), Sang-hyeon comes to pray over her son, Kang-woo (Shin), who is dying of cancer. He quickly realizes that Kang-woon is a childhood friend of his, whose adopted sister Tae-ju (Ok-bin Kim) is now his wife? Kang-woo has a miraculous recovery (which I’d almost chalk up to hypochondria if his mother didn’t mention the doctors noting his cancer disappearing) and is next seen at home, fretting over a common cold. Kang-woo and Tae-ju live with Lady Ra, and the mother and son treat Tae-ju like little better than a slave, with momma’s boy Kang-woo whining constantly to his mother if anything even slightly inconveniences him. The three of them live above Lady Ra’s clothing store, which she and Tae-ju work during the day and then the family spends their evenings entertaining a mahjong group in the upstairs apartment. Sang-hyeon attends one of these gatherings, which stirs up lustful thoughts about Tae-ju; we later see him alone in his room, whipping his thighs vigorously in attrition. Sang-hyeon finds himself increasingly sensitive to his various senses, sound specifically, and passes out from the enormity of it all, only to wake the next day with the rising sun bringing a sizzle to his skin. Tae-ju meanwhile sits up in bed contemplating killing her boorish husband, making casual stabbing motions at his face while he sleeps with his mouth agape. Sang-hyeon’s symptoms of the Emmanuel Virus begin to come back and he discovers the effects that human blood has on him by accident, lapping it up by instinct when presented with the blood on his hand from helping a patient. Driven by this bloodlust, he snacks from the IV drop of a patient, but is seized by guilt and throws himself from the window, a fall which he naturally survives. Wandering the city, he encounters Tae-ju, whose habit is to go for a barefoot run at night, just to get away from the misery of her home life. Sang-hyeon reveals his new nature to Priest Noh (Park), who allows him to feed from him, as he believes that he must be here for some greater purpose. San-hyeon goes back for more mahjong, during which he and Tae-ju manage to slip away for a passionate if slightly clumsy tryst that is interrupted by her husband whining for his hot water bottle. Tae-ju contrives an excuse to spend time with Sang-hyeon at the hospital, volunteering to help out with patients so that they can steal a few hours together and he reveals his nature to her, which at first frightens her away even though he’s offering to take her away from her shitty marriage. After another boring/hellish day with her husband and mother in law, Tae-ju comes around to his way of thinking, but Sang-hyeon ends up living with the family after Noh begins to pressure him to turn him into a vampire, which he believes will cure his blindness. The closer Sang-hyeon gets to Tae-ju, the more cracks begin to appear in their relationship, as she’s not quite the put-upon waif she’d been portrayed as when we first met her, which leads into the conflicts that the two face in the latter half of the film. The film suffers slightly from its length, as it clocks in past the 2 hour mark, but I might be hard pressed to decide what I would see less of, perhaps the set-up to the actual vampirism, or some of the later back and forth shenanigans that happen later as Tae-ju and Sang-hyeon vie for control of one another in the relationship. The film naturally looks amazing, which is the norm for Chan-wook Park, skillfully blending some wuxia-inspired leaping and gliding with his normal stylish attention to color and setting. The man’s films remind me a great deal of Kubrick at times, the camera moving to a detached distance from the action, perfectly framing images of alternating beauty and vicious violence. I really enjoyed the film, Kang-ho Song is terrific as the conflicted priest, it’s interesting to see the strength with which he deals with the vampiric urges compared to how easily Ok-bin Kim’s Tae-ju gives in to her darker side, and it makes you appreciate what his character has been faced with for the proceeding hour of the film. There’s some nice moments of black comedy interspersed throughout, especially towards the end of the film, it lightens a mood that could easily get rather melancholy. I’d definitely recommend checking this one out. 7.5/10 |
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