50/50: Thirst (2009)
Introducing 50/50!
Greetings, and welcome to the newest segment on my site called 50/50. This is a special undertaking for the year 2020, where I pick apart fifty films that I consider engaging, intriguing, and fun to discuss. All in the span of fifty weeks.
This is not a countdown where one film on the list is pitted against the other in hopes of seeing which film is the best. No, these are just insights into movies that act as food for thought. So cutting back on the chit-chat, I hope that you will enjoy this cinematic buffet with me!
Repression can make you do some crazy things; so can love. That is the interpretation I made when I saw the 2009 Park Chan-Wook horror film, Thirst.
Set in South Korea, it follows Sang-Hyun, a Catholic priest who undergoes an experiment to find a vaccine for the deadly Emmanuel Virus. Like most "scientific experiments" in horror films, it goes terribly wrong, and during a blood transfusion, Sang-Hyun becomes a vampire. Yes, with no rhyme or reason, he becomes a blood-sucking, nocturnal, super-strengthed, child of darkness. Sang-Hyun's life takes a lust-filled turn when he meets up with a childhood friend and starts an affair with his wife, Tae-Ju.
Now that all parties concerned are caught up to speed, I am not surprised that this movie won the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Park Chan-wook is a visionary, taking some of the tired old tropes of vampire and breathing new life into it. Right off the proverbial bat, he plunges filmgoers into the world of vampirism with no explanation.

Speaking of trying new things with bogeymen, Park Chan-wook also treats vampiric existence as more of a contractable disease. South Korean vampires turn others by putting their infected fluids directly into their bloodstream. Could this be an allegory for STD's? is vampirism less of a call to damnation and more of a life-long burden to health like HIV? (which cannot be cured but merely managed)
According to Sang-Hyun, being a vampire is a curse, a punishment from God for his faithlessness. He is also punished as well for his lust and subsequent act of adultery with Tae-Ju. In his mind, vampirism is a demonic compulsion. His hankering for blood and Tae-Ju are sins that he cannot help but succumb to, and he inevitably hates himself for it.


One thing about most paranormal romance stories is that one never sees a relatable couple. Yes, it is all fantasy, but it would be nice to see a pairing that hangs in the realm of realism. Thirst does this correctly, Sang-Hyun is a rather average looking man, with no striking aesthetic characteristics. Also, it would have been so easy just to cast a woman to play Tae-Ju that looks like she just finished recording a Korean pop-music video. Instead, she is cuter than anything else, and not a curvaceous bombshell.
I could go on about Thirst, but why not see it for yourself instead? This is indeed a gem from the East that turns the vampire-mythos on its head.
Oh, and one more thing. Did you know that this was the first mainstream Korean film to have full-frontal male nudity in it? I guess it is true what they say; you learn something new every day.
Comments
Post a Comment