Review: THIRST
Yes I admit it, up until this very film I was a Park Chan-wook virgin... Sacrilege, some might say, but with the Tarantino fans bowing at his altar I was wary of OLDBOY and company. Good then that my first Park experience was in the theater with an audience who had no idea what they were in for, 'cause it made the film all that much more enjoyable, something it dearly needed. What, why, how? After the break.
A lot has been said of THIRST around these parts, opinions running all the colors of the rainbow. So with his latest flick rather quickly making it to American shores - due in part to Focus Features being a production partner - all stateside Park aficionados and newbies can get their Vamperic kicks still pretty fresh from its Cannes premiere.
An unusually low key Song Kang-ho plays Sang-hyeon, a priest determined to find a cure for a deadly virus which is harming mostly missionaries. He goes under the experimental knife, gets the virus, a blood transfusion and well, slowly but surely blood lust comes a calling. Park's choice to have Sang-hyeon gradually morph into a vampire was a wise one. To tie in the ways of the vampire with the sins of lust is certainly not something new, in fact it is a staple of the vampire myth, but it hasn't been explored in such a direct way for quite some time.
Meeting an old childhood friend and his family, namely the adopted daughter turned wife Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin) brings about the necessary "hubba hubba" for Sang-hyeon, causing grief, shame and many acts of violence for willing and unwilling parties.
While a neat spin on what feels like a worn out tale, the film is woefully without a focus and drags on far too long. Most of it is entertaining - at least in its inventiveness - but Park struggles with the emotional core of his characters. It never felt like he wanted to make this movie for them, just for the ideas they represented.
He does lay the ground work for different themes and commentaries, yet gets distracted quickly. Soon realizing his folly he scrambles to put things back together, then ummm gets distracted. This is evident in the frequent tonal shifts of the picture, which are by all accounts not always a bad thing but sometimes awkwardly... *ahem* distracting; One minute a slapstick comedy, the next a typical Korean soap opera, Park's off beat, grotesque styling he is known for, does keep the film moving, but to where is the big question... By the time he decided I didn't much care and just watched the pretty pictures, and reveled in the succulent sound design.
From what I know of Park's other films, it seems as if he was born to tackle this kind of morbid story. And for the most part he does a decent job, though primarily as an assured and fearless technician.
What the film lacks in character and depth is made up for in the grand, absurdest spectacle of sex and violence it does so amply provide. And perhaps in these dog days of summer that is just enough.
