Thirst

I seem to follow Kang-Ho Song around. I haven't done many foreign film reviews, but this guy was in The Host, most of The Vengeance Trilogy (don't call it that to the director himself), and a movie that I was very, very close to reviewing called Memories of Murder (Salinui Chueok) (good stuff!). He must be pretty famous in Korea or something. I don't know.

I DO know that of all Korean directors, most people will recognize Park Chan-wook before most others. Thanks to the success of Oldboy. I've seen most of his movies, and so I was pretty excited about Thirst playing in a theater on the island, albeit 45 minutes away with no traffic!

Thirst is an interesting take on a vampire tale. It presented questions about religion versus nature, and about the morality of murder no matter what the circumstances. On top of that there also lies fatal attraction, importance of family and the strength of willpower. These are some slightly heavy subjects to tackle in one single film, but this is put into the hands of a masterful filmmaker (in my opinion), and so he pulled off a comprehensible story that didn't mire itself down with thematic issues too much to keep a decent story flowing.

Kang-ho Song plays a man with heavy inner turmoil well. It's not something he's unfamiliar with, but he's reached his heaviest duty yet with the weight of vampirism on this priest's shoulders. Tae-Ju (or Tae-joo) brings out the beast in him, and I kept wondering how things were going to turn out between the two of them. She certainly has some issues, living a life under the thumb of her adoptive mother and convenience marriage to the son. At first, I understood her desire to escape from the clutches of mundanity and run barefoot through the streets. Then she starts exhibiting strange behaviors, not to exclude an unusual taste for the kinky. If Sang-hyeon hadn't spent his life a virgin and with no girlfriend (*sniff* - at least he has religion as an excuse), he might have seen the hints towards danger. Instead, he falls victim to dangerous prey and has to find a way to free himself from the clutches of evil. I don't mean JUST his vampire urges, either.

There are moments of pure brilliance, most notably a scene in which Sang-hyeon jumps from building to building with Tae-joo in his arms. That was a wonderfully poetic moment, and her bubbling over with excitement and laughter was so genuine that I felt like I was a part of the experience. It's fleeting moments like these that kept me interested when the story dragged on in other areas.

I don't mind much if a movie takes its time progressing, as long as there is reason to do so. There were times during Thirst where I would have preferred a quicker pace. I felt a little bogged down with stretches of uneventful moments in between important situations. If ten minutes were snipped - to include several seconds between spurts of dialog - it could have been a much tighter viewing experience. The lead-in to the final act also manifested a physical representation of psychological guilt a little bit too literally for my tastes. It allowed for one of the more suspenseful moments, even though this movie's main agenda is not to be a "horror" story filled with schlock shocks.

The final act leads to some interesting reveals, and without providing spoilers I was a little confused to a few details that I might be overanalyzing (most especially with a single drop of blood in one scene). I liked the bit with the car, and the throwback to his blind father's statement about wanting to be at an oceanfront. It was another of those moments in which no one talks for a while, and everything is said by action instead of words. The shoes were a nice touch, as well.

Overall, Thirst was a decent movie, but not without flaws. The pace lags more than I'd have preferred, but there are intriguing themes presented that the movie tackled rather satisfactorily. It's pretty gory, and that's cool (it should be if there are vampires). I also dug the performances as well as most of the special effects. The biggest flaw for me was the overlength, and the physical guilt allegory. Small complaint in the grand scheme of things. More stuff worked in this movie than it didn't. And that's cool in my book. I'm glad it didn't suck.

GRADE: B-