'Forget the rules.
Forget the Vatican'
Thirst 8.3
From the cover art of the DVD, I expected this to be more a gothic vampire tale, like so many before it, but what I got was something much more modern, very different and altogether more interesting. It stylishly covers a multitude of themes from messianic complex and marital infidelity to tragic romance.
A dedicated but insecure clergyman is hailed as a messiah after miraculously reviving after dying from contracting the fatal Emmanuel Virus - this forms the beginning of the plot and our character introduction to the devout priest that volunteers himself for a medical experiment in the hope of finding a cure - in the course of which he receives a blood transfusion to kick off the plot and vampiric transformation.
Through the unfondling events, we end up with two lovers finding their ways through the same change but reacting very differently. In asking yourself why the difference, the film encourages you to examine their upbringings and conclude that neither had a particularly fulfilling life, but one at least had a place and importance, the other was a stray. The film takes a neutral stance and you feel for them both come the end.
It reminded me of Let the Right One In and of Interview with a Vampire (two obvious, unoriginal comparisons I suppose) in the sense of a fresh take of the vampiric and the lengths gone to source fresh blood to survive. That survival instinct forms the strongest comparison of the two character's differing approaches to there new lives - the priest harvests readily available and renewable blood from coma patients (he literally reverses their drip to use as a straw) and his young lover, who seems to have no interest in helping people, decides to essentially hunt her victims.
The story of a priest's lust inspired by a young girl from his childhood, both with their own agendas, is enough to drive the film of course, and there are impressive emotional beats that keep things moving forward, plus it isn't guilty of taking too much time to slowly build, but as with any other Park Chan Wook films I have seen, it's the filmmaking style that piqued my attention. He exercises his full stylistic freedom to offer bloodthirsty elements and otherworldly touches, without cheap tricks or relying overly on budget or shallow special effects. There is violence and of course lots of blood spilt, all of which is visually convincing. Plus there were a few wonderful little moments of flair that made me smile - mostly surrounding the couple's new found powers, including straightening a corkscrew by hand, falling from a height head first through a car windscreen and surviving and punching a lamp post to knock it over. I'm not sure I would necessarily place Thirst firmly in the fantasy genre, but as with many great films that take liberties with their realism, this works by balancing those elements with the more everyday relationship storyline to keep things grounded.
For me, the most impressive filmmaking comes from some very impressive expositional scenes of next to no dialogue, not least a sacrificial ending. All films have this to a certain extent, but I find myself enamoured more with those that rely on it the most. Amazingly it put me in mind of Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle, Belleville Rendezvous and silent cinema such as Modern times and Nosferatu, or more precisely reminded me of the awe I felt at the brilliant visual storytelling of those and others. Tonally, I was put in mind of work of the Coen or McDonagh Brothers and other modern classics from the Far East such as Zaotichi and Parasite in terms of it's 'fun loving' personality.
The ending is particularly interesting, and great. Not just for the visual prowess shown by the director as mentioned above, which I think is at it's most substantial in the last scene, but the diverging attitudes of our two antagonists. I have said they emerged from their change in different ways, ways that reflect their upbringing and life experiences, and this is all summarised in their final lines in their last seconds;
He says 'I wanted to live with you forever and ever. Together again in Hell then'
She 'When you're dead, you're dead. It's been fun, father'
I wonder which approach the average person would take.
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