Thirst (Chan-Wook Park)

[EyesWideOpen]

Finally! Just saw today that it's playing at an arthouse theater near me this weekend.

[dreamdead]

At times the narrative here gets a tad too sterile, and like Boner I think the opening third of the film isn't truly needed, as everything until his vampirism feels rushed. And, to be fully honest, Song Kang-ho portrays a rather boring character, despite the theological underpinnings that should yield good internal drama. Once Tae-ju enters the film, though, things enliven greatly, and Park gets the necessary character dynamics to explore his themes, even if they feel skimmed at times (see the ending, which feels similarly devoid of resolution).

As per usual with Park, he engineers some truly marvelous filmmaking moments, with the already-mentioned flying sensation wonderfully conveyed, and the entrance of the dead into the sex scene is a hilariously macabre way of suggesting the trauma of murder. Here, though, Park circumvents some of the more interesting theological aspects that could be broached with the film, so that the final mention of "Father" feels more perfunctory than revelatory. Good, and I'm sure that I'm missing a lot, but it's not quite my favorite film of his. Somehow, Mr Vengeance has finagled its way to his most interesting film for me, despite my initial indifference to it and its focus on the grotesque. It is, ultimately, his most visceral film, and the one that cements his themes in greatest detail.

[ledfloyd]

That's like asking how Slaughterhouse V compares to 17 Again.

17 Again was surprisingly good.

[Ezee E]

Nearly loved this, but was kind of annoyed by the dead popping up, especially the drowning victim. He really annoyed me.

[dreamdead]

Nearly loved this, but was kind of annoyed by the dead popping up, especially the drowning victim. He really annoyed me.

Do you mean the simple portrayal of a near-autistic individual or Park's perverse placement of him in sexual trysts? I thought the latter was one of Park's ingenious touches, allowing for some black humor to pierce the doubting humanism. What hindered the film from being especially effective for me was Tae-ju's character reversal at the end of the film, when she accepts her fate. Park hadn't allowed us enough interiority into her character to position that as a moment I was ready to buy--despite the initial existential despair she has toward her fate when she crawls and hides, and the layer of comedy that comes from it, it didn't seem natural for her to give up so willfully.

[Ezee E]

Do you mean the simple portrayal of a near-autistic individual or Park's perverse placement of him in sexual trysts? I thought the latter was one of Park's ingenious touches, allowing for some black humor to pierce the doubting humanism. What hindered the film from being especially effective for me was Tae-ju's character reversal at the end of the film, when she accepts her fate. Park hadn't allowed us enough interiority into her character to position that as a moment I was ready to buy--despite the initial existential despair she has toward her fate when she crawls and hides, and the layer of comedy that comes from it, it didn't seem natural for her to give up to willfully.

Both really. Just didn't find it funny.

[Dukefrukem]

I liked this, but didn't love it. Can anyone please tell me the attraction Tae-ju had for Sang-hyun? Is it because she hated her life so much?? I always find this kind of motivation unrealistic... someone convince me otherwise.

[Adam]

I liked this, but didn't love it. Can anyone please tell me the attraction Tae-ju had for Sang-hyun? Is it because she hated her life so much?? I always find this kind of motivation unrealistic... someone convince me otherwise.

Well, she had always had a crush on him. I'd say it's natural someone who did resent their life so much could get swept up in the idea of a magical white knight from their past swooping in to take them away from it all

[Bosco B Thug]

Park has a hard time elevating much of this beyond Korean soap opera or pointless exploitation flick, and the film loses touch with its greater points much too regularly (but they are present: the pleasure of sin, the wages of sin, sin [and salvation's] very arbitrariness particularly within orthodox religion), but I had fun with the film. Super romantic, super stylish, super sexy, super twisted-sexy.

Becomes a bit middling by the midpoint. But the final scene really won me over. I loved that whole sequence.

[Rowland]

First word that comes to mind is flippant, as this introduces numerous thematic threads without satisfying most of their emotional/intellectual potential. The first act is particularly damning, as Park clearly has little interest in the implications inherent to the material building up to the Father's attempted suicide or the immediate aftermath of his rebirth. In fact, the movie doesn't really come alive until the relationship between him and the repressed wife is introduced, and even then its internal rhythms remain, at best, clunky. Yay for its tactile sensuality and boldly operatic vision, nay for its glib humor and lack of cohesion, the latter not necessarily a fault by definition, but this particular film goes too far in my estimation. The best scene is probably their first almost-fuck, equal measures tender, awkward, and sultry; also the wife running through the barren, nighttime streets while the sound of her bare feet smacking the pavement echoes in the priest's ears is among last year's most tangibly erotic sensations. The last half hour is its most compelling stretch of storytelling, by which it comes across as too little too late to really salvage the picture as an altogether success, though I remain open to giving it another chance in the future. For my money, the underestimated Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance remains Park's single masterpiece. It didn't have a fart joke, for starters.

[Lucky]

Also:

Thirst >>> Let the Right One In

Indeed. Best vampire movie since Interview with the Vampire. Could have probably used another trimming session in the editing room, but it certainly had some glorious moments. Especially the last 45 min.

[Peng]

Sprawling mix of bleak existentialism, slapstick farce, and vampire romantic melodrama. Storylines careen from and into each other as much as Park's camera swoops through rooms and buildings, and the mix, if pulled off, might be intoxicating the whole way through, if not for me finding that bleak existentialism one of the lead's character study rather lacking. The priest is just a blandly written character which is compounded by being saddled with old genre conflict, even if Song Kang-ho's performance keeps him interesting on screen. Not surprising that the film gets a charge when Tae-ju enters the picture, even more when she gets folded into his secret, as she's a more richly complicated presence, especially with Kim Ok-bin's playful, ferocious performance. 7.5/10