Thirst (18.)
Directed by Park Chan-wook.
Starring Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-vin, Kim Hae-sook, Shin Ha-kyun, Park In-hwan, Oh Dal-soo. 133 mins. Korean with subtitles.
The latest from the Korean master of deranged, sadistic but ever-so-artful violence is a slice ‘n’ slurp modern vampire tale: if the numerous scenes of skin being slashed and pierced by sharp implements don’t have you wincing, then the heightened slurping sounds of the blood being drunk surely will.
After the comparatively tame nuthouse romcom I’m A Cyborg, But That’s OK, Park has again produced something gruesome enough to secure the coveted and terribly elusive 18 certificate from the BBFC. This though shouldn’t be seen as a cynical return to the style that made him notorious; Thirst is generally a more muted creation than the lush, luridly intense melodrama of Oldboy or the Vengeance films.
A devout priest become a vampire after a blood transfusion and tries to deal ethically with his new appetite until he falls in love and Lets The Wrong One In. The film buys into the standard modern ethos that despite the immortality and the super strength, a vampire’s lot is one of melancholic ennui. In fact the film feels like it might have been made by someone in such a state - Park claims to have been preparing for this for a decade but it’s hard to see from the finished film what inspired him.
A vampire priest is packed with possibilities but the film does little more than float a few provocative ideas that are then left undeveloped. The story telling is choppy and disjointed. The film rambles on well beyond the two hour mark, as if they thought if they just keep going eventually they’d find a point to it all.
Thirst disappoints but it at least disappoints with some style. Song Kang-ho is probably Korea’s biggest movie star and though he’s best known over here for buffoonish clown roles in The Host and The Good, The Bad and The Weird, this time his round face is perfect to convey a man helplessly in the thrall of a craving he can’t control.
When the film is good, it is very, very good. There are some marvellously darkly comic moments and every once in a while a scene will come along that is beautifully realised and entirely original. Rather irritatingly, just when I had finally lost all patience with it, the film delivers a splendid last half hour.
But mostly it is a bit boring. Perhaps Park is turning into a Korean Brian De Palma – he has five or six great scenes but has no idea what to do with the rest of the film.
Directed by Park Chan-wook.
Starring Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-vin, Kim Hae-sook, Shin Ha-kyun, Park In-hwan, Oh Dal-soo. 133 mins. Korean with subtitles.
The latest from the Korean master of deranged, sadistic but ever-so-artful violence is a slice ‘n’ slurp modern vampire tale: if the numerous scenes of skin being slashed and pierced by sharp implements don’t have you wincing, then the heightened slurping sounds of the blood being drunk surely will.
After the comparatively tame nuthouse romcom I’m A Cyborg, But That’s OK, Park has again produced something gruesome enough to secure the coveted and terribly elusive 18 certificate from the BBFC. This though shouldn’t be seen as a cynical return to the style that made him notorious; Thirst is generally a more muted creation than the lush, luridly intense melodrama of Oldboy or the Vengeance films.
A devout priest become a vampire after a blood transfusion and tries to deal ethically with his new appetite until he falls in love and Lets The Wrong One In. The film buys into the standard modern ethos that despite the immortality and the super strength, a vampire’s lot is one of melancholic ennui. In fact the film feels like it might have been made by someone in such a state - Park claims to have been preparing for this for a decade but it’s hard to see from the finished film what inspired him.
A vampire priest is packed with possibilities but the film does little more than float a few provocative ideas that are then left undeveloped. The story telling is choppy and disjointed. The film rambles on well beyond the two hour mark, as if they thought if they just keep going eventually they’d find a point to it all.
Thirst disappoints but it at least disappoints with some style. Song Kang-ho is probably Korea’s biggest movie star and though he’s best known over here for buffoonish clown roles in The Host and The Good, The Bad and The Weird, this time his round face is perfect to convey a man helplessly in the thrall of a craving he can’t control.
When the film is good, it is very, very good. There are some marvellously darkly comic moments and every once in a while a scene will come along that is beautifully realised and entirely original. Rather irritatingly, just when I had finally lost all patience with it, the film delivers a splendid last half hour.
But mostly it is a bit boring. Perhaps Park is turning into a Korean Brian De Palma – he has five or six great scenes but has no idea what to do with the rest of the film.
