No doubt one of the more anticipated films being shown at Cannes is Oldboy director Park Chan-wook's foray into vampirism, Thirst. It's certainly mine—and I don't even like vampires all that much. The film already opened in South Korea on April 30th, making a strong debut at the top of the box office.
After a brief detour to the super-sweet (but still just a tad demented) I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK, Park's latest is back on the track of the bubbling violence that surfaces out of necessity, an inner conflict he had already masterfully shown thrice in his Vengeance trilogy. At Cannes, while many are digging the film, critics seem to agree that it's rather long on the running time. Press conference video here.
"The two-hour-plus pic is slow to warm up and largely goes around in circles thereafter, with repetitive (and often plain goofy) jokes about hemoglobin lust and bone-crunching, sanguinary violence." - Derek Elley, Variety
"Park takes his famed eroticization of violence, pain and cruelty to new, feverish heights, and garnishes it with deliciously sadistic gallows humor. Those who thrive on gore, twisted sexuality and brutish handling of women can drink their fill from this film. More serious arthouse critics, however, may balk at the script's soapy excesses, as well as the tonal discordance of yoking the horror-fantasy genre to a love tragedy with classical, literary trappings." - Maggie Lee, The Hollywood Reporter
"More lurid (and crisply framed) but with even less heart, Park Chan-wook's feverishly baroque vampire flick Thirst inspired greater enthusiasm. But, despite AIDS and Catholic allegorizing, this overlong if intermittently comic gorefest is mainly about its rhapsodically staged pyrotechnics." - J. Hoberman, The Village Voice
"While Park needs some remedial work on basic structure, the dude knows how to get your adrenaline pumping, and he still has a terrific knack for the throwaway deadpan gag. I’m just not yet convinced he has anything much of interest to say." - Mike D'Angelo, The A.V. Club
"The ramp up to Grand Guignol is a steep one, and "Thirst" becomes just a stylish shriek in its final third. Stylish, at least, is something Park has always done well. Coherence and emotional appeal, less so." - Alison Willmore, IFC.com
"Like a lot of the films this year, it was too long, but Thirst is a film that stays in the memory. It's a film about trust, betrayal and the dangers of acting on impulse, which makes it rather conservative in that it appears to be a keep-it-in-your-pants movie. But it's also a very good black comedy, with echoes of Park's section of the Three Extremes movie, and I seem to like it more each time I think about it." - Damon Wise, Empire Magazine'
"The movie contains its pleasures: it's kinky and crazy, perverse and perfectly shot, assembled, and staged. (It makes "Angels & Demons" look like a Ron Howard movie -- hey, wait minute...) Unfortunately, Park puts this energetic gorgeousness into what, for all its sex, comedy, visual ingenuity (his camera really can do anything), is still a vampire film. And vampire films by their very nature come with a set of guildelines that, to my disappointment, Park adheres to. This is a director who, even at his most problematic, does things his way. Here he's following rules he can bend but can't bring himself to break." - Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
"Adopting a more lyrical mode than before, this complex and supremely inventive work sees the filmmaker back on top form." - Darcy Paquet, Screen Daily
