Thirst (2009)

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Movie
German title thirst
Original title Bak-Jwi
Country of production South Korea
original language Korean
English
French
Publishing year 2009
length 133 minutes
Age rating FSK from 16
Rod
Director Park Chan-wook
script Park Chan-wook,
Jeong Seo-kyeong
production Park Chan-wook,
Ahn Soo-hyeon
camera Jeong Jeong-hoon
cut Kim Jae-beom ,
Kim Sang-beom
occupation

Durst (or Thirst ; Hangeul 박쥐 Bak-Jwi ) is a South Korean feature film from 2009 , which is loosely based on the novel Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola . It is the eighth feature film by director Park Chan-wook.

action

Sang-hyeon works as a priest in a small village and volunteers at the local hospital. He travels to a Catholic research station in the hinterland to voluntarily take part in a medical experiment aimed at finding a treatment for the deadly Emmanuel virus. The experiment goes wrong and Sang-hyeon becomes infected with a kind of vampire virus from one of the blood that was administered to him. This suppresses the Emmanuel virus, but from now on it has to feed on blood.

The believing people see Sang-hyeon as a kind of saint because he was the only one of the volunteers to survive. When he is supposed to pray for a boy suffering from cancer, he runs into his childhood friend Kang-woo and moves in with his family. He starts a relationship with Kang-woo's wife, Tae-joo, who is fed up with her sober, boring life and her husband.

Sang-hyeon reveals his secret to Tae-joo. At first she is a bit scared, but a little later she is very fascinated by the whole thing.

When Sang-hyeon, Tae-joo and Kang-woo go fishing on a lake at night, Sang-hyeon pushes his old friend into the water, believing that Kang-woo is abusing his wife, not knowing that Tae-joo is himself actually inflicted the wounds himself. He drowns him and makes the body disappear. Kang-woo's mother, Ms. Ra, very saddened by the loss of her only child, suffers a stroke and from then on can neither speak nor move. The horror of this act weighs so heavily on both of them that they feel haunted by the spirit of Kang-woo. This leads to the fact that they briefly separate in order to escape the terrible memories.

By carelessly, Tae-joo Sang-hyeon reveals that in truth her husband never abused her. Badly hit by this fraud, Sang-hyeon kills Tae-joo in a blind fit of rage and drinks her blood. A few moments later, he realizes his loss and the guilt he has taken on himself. He cuts his arm open, lets her drink of his blood and turns Tae-joo into a vampire as well. Unlike Sang-hyeon, who still has a problem killing people to get his blood, Tae-joo makes the most of her new skills and has no problem killing. She enjoys tormenting her victims, which Sang-hyeon displeases.

One day, the family friends come to Tae-joo and Sang-hyeon's apartment to play mahjong. Through blinking communication with Ms. Ra, they learn that Kang-woo did not have an accident, but was killed by Sang-hyeon and Tae-joo. The two murder all the male people present, Sang-hyeon knocks out the only female acquaintance and feeds on her. In this way he saves her life from Tae-joo, who, in her lust for murder, pounds over the other guests.

Sang-hyeon is fed up with his life as a vampire, as it is in stark contrast to his worldview as a priest. He drives with Tae-joo and Ms. Ra in the car to a level by the sea to put an end to the cruelty caused by the morning sun. At first she defends herself and tries to find shelter, but in the end she gives in to her fate. Tae-joo thanks Sang-hyeon for the good time she was allowed to have with him and burns with her lover as the sun rises while Ms. Ra watches the spectacle in the back seat.

criticism

The lexicon of international films described the film as a "visually and dramatically escalating vampire film ". It is an "allusive, intelligent study of morality". Birte Lüdeking, on the other hand, criticized critic.de for the fact that Park neglects “the psychological development of his characters”, creates “no consistently dense atmosphere and no constant narrative rhythm”, “so that the plot breaks down into too many superficial episodes and pretty special effects”.

useful information

After Joint Security Area , Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance , Durst is the fourth collaboration between Park Chan-Wook and the actor Song Kang-Ho.

All in all, Park had been working on the film for about 10 years. He spoke to Song Kang-Ho about his role on the set of Joint Security Area .

The film celebrated its German premiere as part of the Fantasy Film Festival on August 23, 2009. Director Park Chan-Wook, who celebrated his birthday that day, was present and answered a few questions from the audience after the performance.

With a budget of 5 million US dollars, the film has already made more than double that amount.

Durst is the first Korean film that was partially produced by an American studio.

Awards (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ thirst. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ Film review on Critic.de
  3. ↑ Thirst. Box Office Mojo, accessed August 10, 2010 .