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Thirst
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - United Kingdom - Palisades Tartan Review written by and copyright: Christopher Brown (21st June 2010). |
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The Film
 "Thirst" is essentially a vampire tale but one that plays with some of those so called rules of the subgenre. Unlike "Twilight" (2008) that drains all the blood from the Vampire mythos, or "Let the Right One In" (2008) that revels in the melancholic isolation of the vampire curse "Thirst" portrays the vampire as a being of animistic drives, and one that must always strive to keep the beast in check. Even though it follows a far more linear progression than any of Chan-wook Park's previous films it is still a deeply intelligent and powerful piece of film making. Kang-ho Song plays Father Sang-hyeon, a man who selflessly volunteers for a research project searching for a vaccine against a deadly virus known as EV. In the process he contracts the disease, dies and comes back. All thanks to the infected blood he was transfused with. Blood that it would seem belonged to a vampire. Being the only one of the subjects to survive, he becomes quite the celebrity to those who know him and all he wants is to get back to normal. Normal, however, now involves being able to leap great distances without injury, wanting to drink human blood and suffering some extreme sunburn when out in daylight. Before long he's living with a dysfunctional family unit who knew him in his childhood and while he hides his new, (un)lifestyle he finds himself drawn into a complex love triangle, between himself an old acquaintance Kang-woo (Ha-kyun Shin), and Kang-woo's unhappy and verbally abused wife Tae-ju (Ok-bin Kim). As Sang-hyeon becomes more accepting of his darker impulses he begins the descent down a slippery slope that could lead him from man to beast to monster. Deftly blending a number of genres, Park's movie is another original take on the vampire film sub-genre, and once again genuinely impressed me with his unique approach to material that could easily have felt as well-worn and rehashed as any number of other vampire movies I’ve seen over the years. It's a mixture of horror, melodrama and Park's now signature black comedy while also pondering ideas such as strength of faith, the power over life and death, the downside of immortality, and the age old adage of corrupting influence of power. It is, as you would expect from Park, "Thirst" is sublimely directed. This is best illustrated is a shot in which Sang-hyeon catches and lifts the barefoot Tae-ju up and places her in his own shoes that manages to be both threatening and touching and provide a subtle indication of Sang-hyeon's newly developed speed and strength, despite being focussed exclusively on the couple's feet. It’s a scene that really shows just how artful Park can be without the hackneyed art house self indulgence that plagues so many films with "Thirsts" ambitions of beauty and emotiveness. Parks also revels in the more brutal aspects of the story. The blood vomiting scene is a startling and visceral experience. Have no fear the horror fan is catered for here too.
Video
Presented in 2.39:1 widescreen transfer (1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 compression) "Thirst" looks good, and the transfer is of a high (if not excellent quality). The film has a largely natural palette for the most part, although there is an intentional push towards colder, blue hues in certain scenes. The transfer is also very clean throughout. I can't recall any specific instances of artefacts or debris. The best recommendation I can give is that this Blu-ray transfer is much improved over the DVD release. Solid blacks, deeper tones, a crisper and clearer image overall. It’s not perfect but it is a beautiful film given a great opportunity to show what it’s made of. Subtitles appear partially in the frame and partially in the black space below the image. They are generally clear and the translation appears to have been handled fairly well, but there are one or two grammatical errors to be found. Even so, they're unlikely to spoil your enjoyment of the film.
Audio
The sole audio track on the "Thirst" Blu-ray is a Korean DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 affair mixed at 48kHz/24-bit. The mix is fairly sedate until the twenty three minute mark, at which time we start to hear things the same way as a newly infected Sang-hyun. His super-keen vampire senses allow him to hear the sound of lovemaking in the next room, the faraway radio, distant laughing, and even the tiny mites living on his skin! There is some directionality at certain key moments, and although it's nothing on the level of the average action movie it does serve to make the track more exciting. Dialogue is always clean and audible, except for one or two moments where the effects or score are intentionally allowed to drown it out. Optional subtitles are in English only.
Extras
Palisades Tartan have released this film with only a scant collection of supplements, which is a shame as I'd have loved to have seen a packed "Special Edition" release with a plethora of extras, alas we only get two featurettes and the film's theatrical trailer. Below is a closer look. The first extra is a UK exclusive, "Director Interview with Jessica Mellor, of The Daily Mirror" (1080i) featurette runs for 13 minutes 56 seconds. As open as he always seems to be Park once again offers up inside info on his thought process, and style along with his dealing with his actors. He outlines his motivations for his films, as well as his thoughts on the remake being planned by Stephen Spielberg. As always Park comes across as honest, and this is another example of why he’s such a great director (he cares what his fans think). This is the highlight of the extras I only wish it was longer. Next up is the "Edited Highlights of Director Master Class at the NFTS" featurette (1080i) which runs for 13 minutes 23 seconds, The National Film and Television School asks Park questions on his working relationship with leading man Kang-ho Song, the treatment of women in his films, getting a first feature off the ground, and his approach to planning and working with actors. An interesting interview, but somewhat shallow and too short. Finally we also get the original theatrical trailer (1080p) which runs for 2 minutes 1 second. Despite advertising a director audio commentary on the packaging it is absent from the disc.
Overall
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