Vampire movies, thanks to a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad film that shall remain nameless, look like they’re here to stay for a while. 
Yeah, true, they might’ve always been with us but the craze is on another upturn which means up-and-coming filmmakers who have a vampire in their script will likely see it produced. Trouble is, eight out of every ten vampire pictures end up as crap. Seldom do these flicks present a decent idea or tell an engaging story to admire. Dracula is obviously an exception, as is Kathryn Bigelow’s terrific Near Dark. More recently, Let the Right One In did a solid job of being everything that film we will not mention wasn’t. Park Chan-wook’s Thirst also breaks the mold and becomes an interesting and fresh take on vampires while still remembering everything it takes to also be a good film.
The interesting ideas start with Song Kang-ho’s Sang-hyun, a priest who volunteers at the local hospital to send patients to the afterlife. He also volunteers to go to Africa to be a medical experiment to combat one Emmanuel Virus (EV), which no one has yet survived. Sang-hyun becomes the sole survivor of EV and returns home a legend. He’s treated like Jesus Christ, as people flock to him to have their ailments cured. Mr. Park is even gracious enough to show Sang-hyun float in front of his audience only to have them fawn over him. True, his adoring public is unaware of what he is but that doesn’t matter. Mr. Song plays Sang-hyun sympathetically, even when he’s viciously murdering victims. He doesn’t want to do these things, and when he gives in, Song performs with the same gracious sympathy he started with.
Opposite Mr. Song we find Tae-ju portrayed by Kim Ok-vin, a woman sick of her life as (essentially) a slave. She offers up a more complex dame than the usual inhabitant in a vampire film. Tae-ju wants out of her life, and finds that solace in Sang-hyun, especially after he shows off his newfound powers. Ok-vin works wonders with the different faces she has to tackle. One minute she commands sympathy while the next she invites nothing but hatred. One could make the argument she takes out years of frustration on her husband (Ha-kyun Shin) and his estranged mother (Hae-sook Kim), yet does she take it too far? Are she and Sang-hyun justified in their actions? Certainly, it can be debated.
What can’t be debated is that there is an actual love story beating at the center of this piece. Park Chan-wook does some great work experimenting at balancing different genres here. He’s also terrific at nurturing the complexity of these characters. The title Thirst really is a play on Sang-hyun’s rebellion against the church as he falls in love with a woman. For Tae-ju, its meaning is more literal as it pertains to her longing for a better life. These are characters you absolutely hate because of their actions, yet you can’t help but feel they’re somewhat justified. Yet this is what’s compelling about their relationship, all of this involuntary actions madness. For at least one of them, there’s a real guilt for what they’ve done and you feel it. Park, continuing his already wonderful legacy, plays the entire picture like an opera.
Unfortunately, Thirst does have one gigantic problem that plagues it. Wonderful as it all may be, the picture does drag on by the third act. Fifteen minutes could have been easily dropped to tighten the whole thing up. In addition, the pacing of the film is off a notch. While it doesn’t move as slow as a crawl, Thirst does take its time with its scenes and gives time to establish its relationship. That doesn’t become a fault for the film until we get to the third act. Various scenes drag on when they could have been ended two or three minutes beforehand. There’s a perfect ending moment that could have kept this tight.
Yet in the end we’re still left with a wonderful picture that explores the interplay among themes of religion, sexuality, and love. Even at his worst, Park Chan-wook is still better than eighty-five percent of all directors out there. Thirst will, in the end, just go on to improve his stature. He’s taken the vampire myth and given it a second shot in the arm. It may not be perfect, but the film deserves attention for being able to tell a truly tragic love story with panache and grace. Brainless morons can have Twilight while the more intellegent individuals can have Thirst: fair trade.
Rating: 
