Thirst (Park Chan-wook, 2009)

[zombeaner]

Weren't the subs on Slumdog a bit stylized? I sincerely doubt the ones on Thirst will be anything like this in the actual movie, though.

Yeah, I guess I blanked on that. I also doubt that thirst will look anything like either of these.

[Cde.]

Just got back from seeing this. The subtitles were conservative; coloured white and relegated to the screen bottom-centre space, not once trying to escape.

This film, on the other hand, is totally nuts. Midway through it sort of implodes on itself and loses any hope for its audience to take it remotely seriously. Even though it's not really satisfying, there's still plenty to enjoy in watching Park lose it and conjure up a series of lurid violent, erotic, erotically violent images and reveling in the immorality of the proceedings.
Kim Ok-Bin is possibly even more nuts. She really carries the entire film with an incredibly sensual, mesmerizing performance. On a narrative level, I'm not sure I liked the transition between the early scenes featuring her character, which hint at a repressed craziness behind her exterior of innocence, and the later scenes where she becomes a complete minx and then femme-fatale. It sure is fun to watch, though.

I enjoyed this more than Let the Right One In, because I think a moderately well told, but extremely safe work that never extends itself enough to really move me or communicate anything of real significance can never match up to something totally off-the-walls but still overflowing with passion (sometimes misplaced).
Your mileage may vary.
It's not much of a departure from Park's other work. If you like Oldboy and the Vengeance films, you'll probably enjoy it, but I think a lot of people will find it too samey (not to mention messy).

[zedz]

Caveat: I'm no Park fan, but I found this pretty tedious. To me, he seems to have a terrible sense of pacing, and his films lurch or drift from set-piece to set-piece. And the set-pieces here are not particularly original (a leaping rooftop chase that you could find in any third-tier US superhero movie) or even extreme. There's a moderately interesting (but, again, hardly original) take on vampirism buried in here somewhere, but it's all mired in Park's typical misogyny, and the characters are far too cartoonish to deliver the emotional resonance he's fitfully straining for.

[Cde.]

Caveat: I'm no Park fan, but I found this pretty tedious. To me, he seems to have a terrible sense of pacing, and his films lurch or drift from set-piece to set-piece. And the set-pieces here are not particularly original (a leaping rooftop chase that you could find in any third-tier US superhero movie) or even extreme. There's a moderately interesting (but, again, hardly original) take on vampirism buried in here somewhere, but it's all mired in Park's typical misogyny, and the characters are far too cartoonish to deliver the emotional resonance he's fitfully straining for.

You're right, the pacing is absolutely horrendous, and the film is quite misogynistic (look at the way Kim Ok-bin's character is treated). Despite (because of?) narrative craziness, it's overall pretty forgettable.

You're right that the rooftop chase scene is cliché and uninteresting (worsened by terrible CGI) but there were a few standout moments that brightened the rest of the film, like the shot looking down on Tae-joo's face while Sang-hyeon carries her across the rooftops. The backgrounds moving closer and further away while she laughs and tilts back her head capture more of the joy of flying and the freedom it symbolizes than any of Raimi's three Spider-Man movies, and couple it with a liberating sense of immorality.

[Cheerupemokid]

The style of the film and the acting really makes it for me, but I definitely agree that the pacing is off and the twists to the story aren’t my favorite decisions. There was one point where the movie truly feels like it is going to end, and while it wouldn’t have been the most satisfying ending, I was still ready to accept it as the finale. Turns out this scene is the set-up for what is essentially the next HALF of the movie. It goes on for at least another hour, with some interesting scenes from a standalone perspective but the story just doesn’t work for me.

I also think there was a ton more potential for making a point in the priest-turned-vampire story; more of a straight-forward commentary on religion and faith. It is toyed with, even in some ways tackled for sure, but it doesn’t go far enough. That was perhaps the most interesting possibility of the plot, and it hits the wayside so that we can watch the main actress’s “transformation” come to the forefront instead.

Still though I do have to congratulate Chan-Wook (who I am a fan of) for being able to so perfectly blend three really distinct genres through the three acts of the film. The movie moves from comedy to romance to horror film flawlessly. Not a small feat in my eyes.