Word: thirsting
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...more validity. Don't fall for a fad; stick with a quality monster, which has a rich history in literature and cinema, and which keeps producing attractive variations. I speak of the vampire, as exemplified by Park Chan-wook's terrific new South Korean film, Thirst. (See TIME's Video: 10 Questions For Stephenie Meyer...
...Thirst gives the vampire genre a new king, or Count, and he wears a cassock instead of a cape. Father Sang-hyun (Korean superstar Song Kang-ho) is a very caring Catholic priest, who gives last rites to terminally ill patients at the local hospital. He is also a serious flagellant, whipping his thighs in mortification to suppress sexual urges. He has a Christ-like desire to save the world through suffering, and that vocation leads him into a medical experiment with dire effects: everyone else who's undergone it has died. (See TIME's photos: 90 years of vampires...
...ecstasy, pain and all the bodily fluids, especially blood. It's liberating to see a film that melds with the obsessions of its characters, that strips the moorings from genre expectations and leaves viewers asking if the film has lost its mind, or if they have. Our advice: when Thirst goes nuts, go with...
...Director Park, best known to DVD connoisseurs for his Vengeance trilogy, is a past master of emotional violence, and Thirst is his richest, craziest, most mature work yet. He gets valiant work from Song, a top Korean star whose trademark stolidity is a suitable vessel for Father Hyun's stoic battle against the impulses that have invaded his system. But it's the lovely Kim, just 22, who is the revelation here. She can play - no, she can be - a creature of mute docility, then searching ardor, then explosive eroticism, then murderous intent. She is Lady Chatterley and Lady Macbeth...
...mainly cheered ¡sí! or ¡bueno! to their questions, giving an occasional laugh. Finally, I caught a question about having a glass of something and primitively signaled my thirst with a quick head nod. Claudia, my host mother, explained what she was giving me. It resembled lemonade, so I pretended to understand and took a huge swig...