Movie Review – Thirst Thirst is a dark and complicated tragic love story, and horror movie that takes you through several mood swings throughout the film. In the beginning of the film, we find our main character Sang-hyun (Played by Kang-ho Song) who is a priest that seems to be yearning to give more of himself in his duty. He volunteers at the local hospital, as well as takes confession, but this is not enough for him. He heard of a program in Africa that was seeking out volunteers to be test subjects for a sickness called “Emmanuel Disease.” When someone is infected with the disease, they begin to grow legions all over their body and into their nose and windpipe. Soon they expel blood and die soon after. Although this was incredibly dangerous, Sang-hyeon decided to sign up knowing that god will heal him. He signs up for the testing and soon after he contracts a lethal dose of the disease. Sang dies and by a miracle he comes back to life.
Word of the miracle spreads across the world, and when he comes home to S. Korea, he finds a large group of people wanting him to pray for them. Sang begins to realize that he is a changed man and his faith is no longer as strong as it used to be. Upon visiting an old neighbor, he meets a young woman named Tae-ju (Played by Ok-bin Kim) who is in a somewhat abusive relationship with the neighbor’s son, an ill-mannered dimwit. The neighbor is also abusive toward the young lady and they both treat her as a servant, by having her sit at a child’s table, and waiting on them hand and foot during the evenings. During the day, she works at the neighbor’s kimono shop. Sang begins dropping by once a week to play Mahjong with the neighbor and several of her friends. A retired police officer and man with a subservient Filipino wife. While on his mahjong visits, Sang’s sympathy for Tae-ju begins to grow, and soon he finds himself attracted to her. She is also becoming attracted to him, but there is a catch. Sang is changing… The special effects in this movie take wirework to a new high (pardon my pun). There is a wonderful scene where Sang shows Tae-ju some of his newfound abilities by leaping from rooftop to rooftop holding her in his arms like superman. The camera follows them both with each leap taking us along for the ride. Simply beautiful. There are more cool scenes sprinkled throughout the movie that I refuse to spoil here. However, I love how the director took something superhuman and made it look natural. The screenplay was co-written and directed by Chan-woo Park who has captured the number 3 spot on my all time favorite writer/directors list. If you are not familiar with his work, I suggest renting Old boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance. Every film that Chan-woo Park makes has a dark edge to it that reminds you what good filmmaking is all about. Pros: Cool story, dark story that takes a twist on a familiar theme spins it into a different direction. Great special effects. Cons: Subtitles but most of the good stuff has them. 4 out of 5 stars Rated R -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
