South Korean director Park Chan-wook's Thirst (2009) is set to be released in the UK on January 25th, 2010. Nominated for Palme d'Or and winner of the Jury Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Courtesy of Palisades Tartan-UK.
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Variety:
Quote:
Emile Zola meets New Age vampirism in South Korean helmer Park Chan-wook's "Thirst," an overlong stygian comedy that badly needs a transfusion of genuine inspiration. Inspired by and following key plot elements in Zola's 19th-century novel of murder and adultery, "Therese Raquin," the two-hour-plus pic is slow to warm up and largely goes around in circles thereafter, with repetitive (and often plain goofy) jokes about hemoglobin lust and bone-crunching, sanguinary violence. Some major surgery could help its specialized offshore potential, but this is startlingly unnuanced work from the director of such classy fare as "Oldboy" and "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance."
Film opened strongly April 30 in South Korea, and has taken 1.75 million admissions in its first two frames. But in its second week, it was knocked out of the top spot by action-comedy "My Girlfriend Is an Agent."
Setup is strong, as Sang-hyeon (Song Kang-ho), a well-liked priest in a small town who works at the local hospital, contracts and dies from the deadly Emmanuel virus after volunteering in a project to discover a vaccine. After being brought back to life by a blood transfusion, he gradually realizes he's been turned into a vampire, which gives him an extremely healthy sexual appetite but also requires regular doses of blood to keep his skin free of small boils.
Choice bits of Zola's novel start to appear as Sang-hyeon starts an affair with Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin), the wife of his childhood friend, Kang-woo (Shin Ha-gyun). Dowdy, put-upon Tae-ju, who spends her time looking after the sickly Kang-woo and being bullied by his doting mom, Mrs. Ra (as in "Raquin"; Kim Hae-suk), blooms into a voracious, free-spirited lover with Sang-hyeon. Soon they're a pair in more ways than one, as their thirst for sex, thrills and red corpuscles turns them into mass murderers.
Project has been in Park's mind for a decade -- always with thesp Song in mind -- but at some stage, what began as a typically wry, genre-bending take on sin and redemption seems to have shed most of its subtext. Though Sang-hyeon finds himself an object of worship as he develops special powers of strength and flight, what could have been a wonderfully transgressive spin on religion and its flipside devolves, especially in its second half, into blood-spattered, low-key farce revolving around a single, overworked idea.
Early grossout scenes lose their shock value with repetition, as the script amps up the semi-cartoonish violence in the third act. Tae-ju begins to relish the blood-sucking in a way that troubles even Sang-hyeon. But the movie never comes close to tapping the raw, gnawing need of vampirism that fueled pics such as Abel Ferrara's "The Addiction" or Tony Scott's "The Hunger."
Song, perhaps South Korea's most recognizable actor and a Park regular ("JSA," "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance"), is never less than solid as the priest-turned-vampire but lacks some of the sheer physical presence he usually brings to the screen.
The major surprise is 22-year-old actress-model Kim Ok-vin (usually known, more correctly, as Kim Ok-bin), whose doll-like features made her the perfect underdog in the campy high school musical "Dasepo Naughty Girls." Here, she puts to rest any doubts about her ability to take on a challenging role, throwing herself into topless sex scenes and vampiric munching with a lusty, bad-girl abandon.
As usual in Park's movies, design is paramount, with Jeong Jeong-hun's DV-originated lensing savoring the musty Lynchian colors of Ryu Seong-hye's production design. Visual effects, especially in the flying scenes, are just OK by Korean standards.
Camera (color, widescreen), Jeong Jeong-hun; editors, Kim Sang-beom, Kim Jae-beom; music, Jo Yeong-wook; production designer, Ryu Seong-hye; costume designer, Jo Sang-gyeong; sound (Dolby Digital), Jung Gun; sound designers, Kim Seok-weon, Kim Chang-seob; special effects supervisor, Lee Jeon-hyeong; visual effects, AZworks; assistant director, Seok Min-woo. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (competing), May 14, 2009. Running time: 133 MIN.
Pro-B
Last edited by pro-bassoonist; 02-14-2011 at 07:36 PM.
OK, it's been updated sometime today then. It definitely was showing March 8th earlier today. And Amazon.co.uk are not listing a Blu-ray release at all.
OK, it's been updated sometime today then. It definitely was showing March 8th earlier today. And Amazon.co.uk are not listing a Blu-ray release at all.
That one listed for Jan 25 is the Blu-Ray release. I'm sure Amazon will correct their listing in the next few days.
I attended a screening of the directors cut of Thirst here in California last month, with Park Chan-Wook in attendance. He said he was here specifically to work on the US blu-ray...So it's definitely coming, just a matter of when. He was a pretty nice guy, btw.
I attended a screening of the directors cut of Thirst here in California last month, with Park Chan-Wook in attendance. He said he was here specifically to work on the US blu-ray...So it's definitely coming, just a matter of when. He was a pretty nice guy, btw.
Nekromantik: The Korean company releasing it over there had not yet finished their extras when we had to complete our mastering, so we went with UK-exclusive extras that I produced myself. Many thanks to the cameramen at each venue, and the venues themselves, as well as the translators and Director Park.
Nekromantik: The Korean company releasing it over there had not yet finished their extras when we had to complete our mastering, so we went with UK-exclusive extras that I produced myself. Many thanks to the cameramen at each venue, and the venues themselves, as well as the translators and Director Park.
Pro-B: Many thanks! You've just made all the hard work of the last few months worthwhile.
Manicsounds: to the best of my knowledge, Director Park's schedule over the last few months has taken him all over the world in support of Thirst; I imagine this has left him with very little time back home. You can guess how that might affect their production schedule.
eh, guess the UK disc might have to suffice.
Passed on the US DVD being barebones, the theatrical release over here is at the end of February. Still thinking which to go for, disc first or wait until in theaters...
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Thirst (Park Chan-wook)
You've just made all the hard work of the last few months worthwhile.
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