Reviewed by: Chris Cabin of FilmCritic.com
Director: Park Chan-wook
Producers: Park Chan-wook, Ahn Soo-hyun
Screenwriters: Park Chan-wook, Jeong Seo-gyeong
Actors: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Kim Hae-sook, Shin Ha-kyun, Park In-hwan
MPAA Rating: NR
FilmCritic.com Rating = 2.0 out of 5.0 Stars
The thrill of sin and the thrill of salvation become one and the same in Park Chan-wook’s audacious Thirst. Beholden to both Catholic and vampiric mythology, Chan-wook has retrofitted his baroque bloodsucker with concepts of drug addiction, middle-class malaise, sexual fetishes, and disease, to name just a few. Only a production of the highest ambitions, made by well-meaning practitioners, could ever have birthed the oozing, clamorous mess that has ended up onscreen.
The setup has nothing but promise. In a rushed opening movement, Father Sang-hyeon (the exceptional Song Kang-ho) is introduced as a well-liked priest with a nonchalant yearn for martyrdom. He has decided to visit a small clinic to become a guinea pig for a cure to the infectious Emmanuel virus. By the time he is vomiting blood through his beloved flute, the doctors have declared him incurable; they pronounce the time of death just about 15 seconds before he begins breathing again. Blindly hailed as a miracle worker, Sang-hyeon becomes a regular fixture at a weekly Mahjongg game hosted by an old school chum he healed. It is here that he first starts gagging from an overwhelming smell as his friend’s wife runs into the restroom to change her tampon.
Read the full review by Chris Cabin at FilmCritic.com.
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