If you know the original source novel it may take you awhile to recognize Zola's "Therese Raquin" in this tale of a vampiric priest, transposed to present day South Korea. The priest is Father Sang-hyun, (a superb Kang-ho Song), whose crisis of faith leads him to take part in a somewhat extreme medical experiment and since this is also a horror film, as well as an off-the-wall adaptation of a literary classic, naturally the experiment goes wrong and very soon the good father is lusting after blood and the nubile young wife, (Kim Ok-bin, also superb), of an old boyhood friend.
"Thirst" is a Chan-wook Park film so you know there will be a lot more sex and blood than religion and its horrors will be poetic as well as extreme. Park may be one of Asian cinema's foremost stylists but you mustn't take any of this too seriously. Since Dracula we've had all sorts of vampires, some exploring the myth with a high degree of seriousness, others poking fun; Park tries to combine the two with a reasonable degree of success. It's certainly stylish and it's certainly different and yes, it even manages to get Zola in there, too. Just don't expect too much of him.
No comments:
Post a Comment