SusannahTHIRST (BAKJIWI)
August 3rd 2009 05:37
THIRST (BAKJIWI 2009)
Starring: Kang-ho Song, Ok-vin Kim
Directed by: Chan-wook Park
(Warning: Contains spoilers)Thirst (Bakjiwi) sees Korean writer-director Chan-wook Park’s take on the vampire myth. Kang-ho Song plays a priest, Sang-hyeon, who, having seen enough death at the hospital where he works, volunteers as a test subject for an experiment at an African outpost of his Catholic order. This virus is unique because it only affects Asian and Caucasian single men. This mysterious laboratory is trying to find a cure, and Sang-hyeon is duly infected. Breaking out into pus-filled boils, and bleeding from the mouth, he sickens, and dies from the virus. But that is not the end. Something in the blood transfusion he is given at the point of death brings him back to life, and seemingly cures him of the virus as well.
Priest Sang-hyeon comes back to Korea and is worshipped as a miracle, being the only one from 50 test subjects to survive the treatment. Many sick people beg for him to pray for their recovery, including the mother of his childhood friend, Kang-woo, who is apparently dying of cancer. Sang-hyeon prays for his cure, and is then invited around for dinner when Kang-woo improves. There, he also meets another person from his past, Tae-joo, the adopted daughter of Lady Ra, and who is now Kang-woo’s wife.
Subsequently, Thirst explores Sang-hyeon’s growing desire for two things: blood and Tae-joo. After the initial effects of his blood transfusion wear off, he finds himself succumbing to the virus again while falling in love with Tae-joo, all the while trying to reconcile both desires with his Catholic religion. Eventually, Sang-hyeon gives into both: sleeping with Tae-joo; sucking blood from a coma patient, and stealing blood-transfusions from the hospital. The effects of the vampirism are such that the virus completely disappears whenever Sang-Hyeon drinks blood, but this he must do regularly to keep the virus at bay. He also heals instantly, has extra strength, can leap great distances into the air, and has heightened senses. He does not, however, have fangs; which makes drinking from a live person rather a gory affair, allowing director Park to indulge in some of his favoured gore, though it is never truly gratuitous.
The character of Tae-joo is a well-thought out and complicated one. On the one hand she has been rather mistreated by her adoptive mother and her son, as she is ordered around by them both and treated like a servant. The mother hitting her across the face if she takes too long fulfilling a task. Her complete sense of boredom driving her to seek an escape from her marriage to Kang-woo. On the other hand, her husband is not cruel, merely a bit dim, and his mother did take her in when she was abandoned by her parents and essentially left in their care.
Tae-joo is therefore both a victim and a perpetrator of her own destiny. She is genuinely attracted to Sang-Hyeon, but, once she discovers that he is a vampire, decides to manipulate his powers to fulfil her own ends. Through self-mutilation she convinces Sang-hyeon that her husband is physically abusing her. He is so enraged that he resolves to kill Kang-woo. And so he does. Murdering him on a fishing trip by trapping him under the water. The couple then lie, saying that Kang-woo was drunk and fell into the water. His mother is so upset at the news that she has a stroke, rendering her paralysed. The film then changes tack for a while, becoming a study of guilt, as Tae-joo and Sang-hyeon must learn to live with the crime they have committed.
This is easier said than done as Sang-hyeon has struggled to maintain his morality while being forced to face the fact that he has become a vampire. As he tells Tae-joo, he has tried to never kill anyone. This is becoming increasingly difficult as Sang-hyeon leaves the priesthood behind, and with it, the ready supply of blood donations he was getting from the hospital. He feels betrayed as his blind mentor, Priest Noh, the man who raised him, begs to be made into a vampire so he can see the sunrise one last time. Priest hyeon points out that he could not see the sunrise, even if he was a vampire, as he cannot go out in the sun. He feels betrayed by the church as he realises that Priest Noh is greedy for eternal life and would give up Catholicism to become like himself.
The final breaking point comes when Tae-joo lets slip that Kang-woo never lifted a finger to her, before confessing their plot to Kang-woo’s paralysed mother and putting all the blame upon Sang-hyeon. In his rage he kills her. But such is his love and need for Tae-joo that he decides to save her by making her a vampire like himself. Unfortunately, if Tae-joo was manipulative and selfish in life, she is far worse in life after death. Unlike Sang-hyeon, she has no compunctions about killing for fresh blood, and tells him that there is no fun in merely drinking blood from bags. Like Sang-hyeon she needs to keep drinking blood in order to not die from the virus that has infected them both. But how far will she go to protect the secret of Kang-woo’s murder, and will Sang-hyeon be able to stop her?
Thirst is a thoughtful exploration of what it means to not only be a vampire for someone of the catholic faith, but how far someone will go when they know the person they love is in the wrong, and what they will do to stop them. That is not to say that Thirst is without humour. There are actually some very funny, blackly comic moments, and Park handles the tone and story transitions well. The thinking person’s vampire film, I recommend it for people who enjoyed Let the Right One In.
Starring: Kang-ho Song, Ok-vin Kim
Directed by: Chan-wook Park
(Warning: Contains spoilers)Thirst (Bakjiwi) sees Korean writer-director Chan-wook Park’s take on the vampire myth. Kang-ho Song plays a priest, Sang-hyeon, who, having seen enough death at the hospital where he works, volunteers as a test subject for an experiment at an African outpost of his Catholic order. This virus is unique because it only affects Asian and Caucasian single men. This mysterious laboratory is trying to find a cure, and Sang-hyeon is duly infected. Breaking out into pus-filled boils, and bleeding from the mouth, he sickens, and dies from the virus. But that is not the end. Something in the blood transfusion he is given at the point of death brings him back to life, and seemingly cures him of the virus as well.
Priest Sang-hyeon comes back to Korea and is worshipped as a miracle, being the only one from 50 test subjects to survive the treatment. Many sick people beg for him to pray for their recovery, including the mother of his childhood friend, Kang-woo, who is apparently dying of cancer. Sang-hyeon prays for his cure, and is then invited around for dinner when Kang-woo improves. There, he also meets another person from his past, Tae-joo, the adopted daughter of Lady Ra, and who is now Kang-woo’s wife.
Subsequently, Thirst explores Sang-hyeon’s growing desire for two things: blood and Tae-joo. After the initial effects of his blood transfusion wear off, he finds himself succumbing to the virus again while falling in love with Tae-joo, all the while trying to reconcile both desires with his Catholic religion. Eventually, Sang-hyeon gives into both: sleeping with Tae-joo; sucking blood from a coma patient, and stealing blood-transfusions from the hospital. The effects of the vampirism are such that the virus completely disappears whenever Sang-Hyeon drinks blood, but this he must do regularly to keep the virus at bay. He also heals instantly, has extra strength, can leap great distances into the air, and has heightened senses. He does not, however, have fangs; which makes drinking from a live person rather a gory affair, allowing director Park to indulge in some of his favoured gore, though it is never truly gratuitous.
The character of Tae-joo is a well-thought out and complicated one. On the one hand she has been rather mistreated by her adoptive mother and her son, as she is ordered around by them both and treated like a servant. The mother hitting her across the face if she takes too long fulfilling a task. Her complete sense of boredom driving her to seek an escape from her marriage to Kang-woo. On the other hand, her husband is not cruel, merely a bit dim, and his mother did take her in when she was abandoned by her parents and essentially left in their care.
Tae-joo is therefore both a victim and a perpetrator of her own destiny. She is genuinely attracted to Sang-Hyeon, but, once she discovers that he is a vampire, decides to manipulate his powers to fulfil her own ends. Through self-mutilation she convinces Sang-hyeon that her husband is physically abusing her. He is so enraged that he resolves to kill Kang-woo. And so he does. Murdering him on a fishing trip by trapping him under the water. The couple then lie, saying that Kang-woo was drunk and fell into the water. His mother is so upset at the news that she has a stroke, rendering her paralysed. The film then changes tack for a while, becoming a study of guilt, as Tae-joo and Sang-hyeon must learn to live with the crime they have committed.
This is easier said than done as Sang-hyeon has struggled to maintain his morality while being forced to face the fact that he has become a vampire. As he tells Tae-joo, he has tried to never kill anyone. This is becoming increasingly difficult as Sang-hyeon leaves the priesthood behind, and with it, the ready supply of blood donations he was getting from the hospital. He feels betrayed as his blind mentor, Priest Noh, the man who raised him, begs to be made into a vampire so he can see the sunrise one last time. Priest hyeon points out that he could not see the sunrise, even if he was a vampire, as he cannot go out in the sun. He feels betrayed by the church as he realises that Priest Noh is greedy for eternal life and would give up Catholicism to become like himself.
The final breaking point comes when Tae-joo lets slip that Kang-woo never lifted a finger to her, before confessing their plot to Kang-woo’s paralysed mother and putting all the blame upon Sang-hyeon. In his rage he kills her. But such is his love and need for Tae-joo that he decides to save her by making her a vampire like himself. Unfortunately, if Tae-joo was manipulative and selfish in life, she is far worse in life after death. Unlike Sang-hyeon, she has no compunctions about killing for fresh blood, and tells him that there is no fun in merely drinking blood from bags. Like Sang-hyeon she needs to keep drinking blood in order to not die from the virus that has infected them both. But how far will she go to protect the secret of Kang-woo’s murder, and will Sang-hyeon be able to stop her?
Thirst is a thoughtful exploration of what it means to not only be a vampire for someone of the catholic faith, but how far someone will go when they know the person they love is in the wrong, and what they will do to stop them. That is not to say that Thirst is without humour. There are actually some very funny, blackly comic moments, and Park handles the tone and story transitions well. The thinking person’s vampire film, I recommend it for people who enjoyed Let the Right One In.
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