- Joined
- Jan 2, 2007
- Messages
- 1,067
I bloody love Chan-Wook Park. His vengeance trilogy, particularly the spectacular finale "Lady Vengeance" (AKA 'The kind hearted Geum-Ja') have all found their way into my big list of greatest movies of all time. His last endeavor "I'm a cyborg, but that's ok" was a great mixture of comedy and drama and a little bit of a break from his much darker and pessimistic views in the Vengeance trilogy. Now, we have Thirst, a movie about a vampire priest. Despite that being how one can boil down Thirst, much like the excellent "Let the right one in," uses a psychological approach to the vampire more than a horror/creepy ass romance approach. Okay, to be fair, also like Let the right one in Thirst is a romance but unlike Twilight and the various other movies starring Vino's (Vampires in name only) its much more mature and proper, also a little less creepy. The film tells the tale of a nameless Korean-Catholic priest (At least, I never heard him given a name save for 'Father') who volunteers a research group studying the 'EV' virus, an incurable disease that forms boils on the body and causes the victim to cough up mass amounts of blood; enough to kill them. The Father dies, but when they attempt to save his life by giving him a blood transfusion, he miraculously springs back to life and he slowly learns that he is a vampire and that by drinking blood, he can fight the EV virus. Naturally this brings up tons of moral implications that the film handles well, and the film also does a great job at providing a dark allegory about disease and sin. The father slowly loses touch with his religious beliefs, and falls in love with the beautiful Tae-Jue who is pessimistic and unhappy with her life, perfectly healthy, never had a single illness or disease and when The Father comes into her life and shows her pain, disease, sickness, and sin; she feels a spark for tainted life and naturally when she learns of his vampirisim she seeks to become one herself. The film accurately balances the religious elements and the negative elements, The Father still tries to be a good man despite his actions becoming more and more animalistic, and the way his sickness corrupts the once pure woman as she willfully descends down a dark path is an interesting and unique balance that puts a fresh spin on the standard "Black & White" aspects of 'good' and 'evil,' in a way it breaks it up so that there is no pure 'good' or pure 'evil,' but both can be tainted by each other.
The film has Chan-Wook's excellent and tight direction and has all his trademarks, from his rather bleak sense of humour to his... erm.... 'interesting' sex scenes (Although there is one that is a little too gratuitous and pointless, lasting about 8 minutes :\) as well as his ability to use striking visual metaphors and most importantly, his graceful and beautiful method of story telling. Much like in OldBoy and Lady Vengeance, he can tell several different stories with various characters, but without losing track of the main plot; if anything the way he handles telling multiple stories underneath the main one improves the main storyline, giving it much more character development, but without ever sacrificing the flow of the main plot and keeping it going. Its very hard to pull that off but Chan-Wook can giving the film excellent character depth. Yet another trademark is the use of classical themes in the musical score, and there is plenty of beautiful melodies in the films score. It can be said though, much like the majority of the Vengeance Trilogy, the film is relatively heavy duty and isn't a good watch if you are depressed. It always has been somewhat of a theme in his films, but it does deal a fair amount with psychological and physical abuse towards the innocent as well as women and has a rather pitch black outlook on marital partnership and the various bad paths that it can take. Sometimes the violence unrelated to the disease/vampire can be a little disturbing and uncomfortable. While there are still a few darkly humorous moments, its not what you would call a cheerful movie, but much of what Chan-Wook tries to get across hits hard and carries plenty of dramatic weight.
One can trace Chan-Wook's evolution as a director in his films, the first entry in the vengeance trilogy "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" was an incredible picture, but it dragged on at times and there were some quirks in his direction and considering the plot material it wasn't as mature as it should've been using somewhat silly and out of place dark humour. OldBoy improved in many ways, and Chan-Wook was able to grow up a little bit. I feel that by Lady Vengeance, he had perfected his craft, and 'I'm a Cyborg, but that's OK' also should yet more improvement in his maturity as well as showing that he did have a lighter side. While Thirst definitely goes down a darker road once again, hes still continued to improve his craft and he handles certain subjects more maturely than most other directors can and the film is smart, engaging, and well worth your time. In my opinion, it even exceeds "Let the right one in" and proves that a vampire romance movie can have real vampires and real romance, and the fascinating emotional and moral qualms in Thirst makes this a thinking man's vampire movie. It is one of the best films I've seen this year, and I heartily recommend it to followers of Chan-Wook's films and to anyone who enjoys vampires, drama, or both.
9.8/10
Oh, btw, as I am very outspoken about modern parenting as well as content in movies and video games, I am now adding a "Content Note" at the end of each of my reviews so for parents or people who don't like seeing certain content will have a somewhat more in depth idea of what is in the film so they can decide if its appropriate or not for their family or themselves.
Content Note: While not particularly gory (No internal organs, no severed limbs, etc.) the film is rather bloody at times and the depiction of certain flesh wounds are graphic, and there are shots of diseased humans that some may find disturbing. The film is heavy on the sexual content, it is constantly referenced in many forms and scenes as well as a few sex scenes; one that runs a little *too* long. There is nudity as well of both sexes, although no crotch shots for either, just rear and upper body. There isn't much language to my recollection. The film deals with religion as well, particularly Catholicism and quotes the bible and the film does focus on the desecration and tainting of religious virtues and beliefs. Needless to say, it deserves its R rating and is not for younger children or people who are touchy about sex and violence, and if you happen to be religious and dislike films that focus on the ruin of belief, Thirst isn't for you.
The film has Chan-Wook's excellent and tight direction and has all his trademarks, from his rather bleak sense of humour to his... erm.... 'interesting' sex scenes (Although there is one that is a little too gratuitous and pointless, lasting about 8 minutes :\) as well as his ability to use striking visual metaphors and most importantly, his graceful and beautiful method of story telling. Much like in OldBoy and Lady Vengeance, he can tell several different stories with various characters, but without losing track of the main plot; if anything the way he handles telling multiple stories underneath the main one improves the main storyline, giving it much more character development, but without ever sacrificing the flow of the main plot and keeping it going. Its very hard to pull that off but Chan-Wook can giving the film excellent character depth. Yet another trademark is the use of classical themes in the musical score, and there is plenty of beautiful melodies in the films score. It can be said though, much like the majority of the Vengeance Trilogy, the film is relatively heavy duty and isn't a good watch if you are depressed. It always has been somewhat of a theme in his films, but it does deal a fair amount with psychological and physical abuse towards the innocent as well as women and has a rather pitch black outlook on marital partnership and the various bad paths that it can take. Sometimes the violence unrelated to the disease/vampire can be a little disturbing and uncomfortable. While there are still a few darkly humorous moments, its not what you would call a cheerful movie, but much of what Chan-Wook tries to get across hits hard and carries plenty of dramatic weight.
One can trace Chan-Wook's evolution as a director in his films, the first entry in the vengeance trilogy "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" was an incredible picture, but it dragged on at times and there were some quirks in his direction and considering the plot material it wasn't as mature as it should've been using somewhat silly and out of place dark humour. OldBoy improved in many ways, and Chan-Wook was able to grow up a little bit. I feel that by Lady Vengeance, he had perfected his craft, and 'I'm a Cyborg, but that's OK' also should yet more improvement in his maturity as well as showing that he did have a lighter side. While Thirst definitely goes down a darker road once again, hes still continued to improve his craft and he handles certain subjects more maturely than most other directors can and the film is smart, engaging, and well worth your time. In my opinion, it even exceeds "Let the right one in" and proves that a vampire romance movie can have real vampires and real romance, and the fascinating emotional and moral qualms in Thirst makes this a thinking man's vampire movie. It is one of the best films I've seen this year, and I heartily recommend it to followers of Chan-Wook's films and to anyone who enjoys vampires, drama, or both.
9.8/10
Oh, btw, as I am very outspoken about modern parenting as well as content in movies and video games, I am now adding a "Content Note" at the end of each of my reviews so for parents or people who don't like seeing certain content will have a somewhat more in depth idea of what is in the film so they can decide if its appropriate or not for their family or themselves.
Content Note: While not particularly gory (No internal organs, no severed limbs, etc.) the film is rather bloody at times and the depiction of certain flesh wounds are graphic, and there are shots of diseased humans that some may find disturbing. The film is heavy on the sexual content, it is constantly referenced in many forms and scenes as well as a few sex scenes; one that runs a little *too* long. There is nudity as well of both sexes, although no crotch shots for either, just rear and upper body. There isn't much language to my recollection. The film deals with religion as well, particularly Catholicism and quotes the bible and the film does focus on the desecration and tainting of religious virtues and beliefs. Needless to say, it deserves its R rating and is not for younger children or people who are touchy about sex and violence, and if you happen to be religious and dislike films that focus on the ruin of belief, Thirst isn't for you.
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