Thirst, by director Park Chan-wook is the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at last year's Cannes. In a word it is exhilarating.
The plot is essentially about a priest, Priest Sang-hyeon, who becomes a Vampire after receiving a blood transfusion. What follows is two hours of his struggle with his sinful urges, and his love for a married woman who he seems to want to rescue from her life.
There was no dull moment in this film. Like usual, the best 'monster' films are the ones where the human characters are more monstrous than the monster itself. The struggle and change in Sang-hyeon's personality and moral compass is a nice gradual burn, as is the superb performance by his love interest, Tae-ju, played to perfection by Ok-bin Kim. The film itself is a very unconventional romance film at heart with a healthy does of violence, blood and surreal moments.
It's late, and I won't give you much in the way of details, save to say that it has some of Chan-wook's trademark violence [to those who saw Oldboy] mixed in with some really creepy moments. Sure, some of the acting is over-the-top and quite ridiculous, and there are quite a few really odd funny scenes that are so out of place, but I wasn't bored for any of the 129 minute running time.
Do yourselves a favour and exorcise the Twilight's of the world by watching this unique and interesting Vampire movie. And for those who may be put off by the line at the top of the poster 'most mature work yet' and the fact that its a romance movie at heart, please note that it's also crazy and there are boobies.
I give this a solid 4.5/5.
