Title: Thirst
Director: Park Chan-wook
Year: 2009
Genre: Drama
Format Reviewed: Film

Some Park Chan-wook films, specifically the Vengeance Trilogy films and Cut, are known for their realistic, brutal violence.  Adding J.S.A. and I’m A Cyborg… But That’s OK, the comparisons by plot are less, but the trademark features of a Park film are still present: silly humor and well-defined characters.  On all three of these levels, Thirst delivers.

Like Let The Right One In, Thirst is definitely a different take on the vampire genre.  The main character is a priest who donates his body to scientific research in order to find a cure for a disease and become a vampire by accident.  His motives are clearly good, and even as a vampire he refrains from killing any humans. The girl, on the other hand, becomes a vampire by choice.  As soon as she transforms, she kills at will and for pleasure.  Her whimsical nature about killing will likely bring joy to fans of the violence in the Vengeance movies.

Thirst never becomes a horror movie, nor does it really commit to a drama.  It’s pacing reflects the slow, method of Lady Vengeance, and is more of a study of the imagination surrounding vampires than the resolution of the plot itself.

Title: Let The Right One In
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Year: 2008
Genre: Drama
Format Reviewed: Bluray (US)

Let The Right One In is a much more serious take on a vampire story.  In fact, unlike Thirst, the ‘vampire parts’ of the movie are not the main focus.  At it’s core, Right One is a coming-of-age love story.  Vampire movies often include seduction or love, but this one has a classic “it’s not going to work out” love story that you would find in any other romance.  But this is definitely not the feel of the film.

The visuals of Let The Right One In are just as gory, and actually even more visceral than Thirst.  The kills in Let The Right One In, which are a combination of necessity and passion crime, are realistic and disturbing in a Fargo way, not to mention all the snow.  The imagery and slow pacing helps to make the small town and it’s citizens feel like an otherwise stable, quiet community.

In the end, Let The Right One In is a better film in almost every way.  The characters are developed better, the violence is stronger, the pacing is more deliberate (a plus to the drama), and ending much more powerful.  This isn’t to say Thirst is a bad film.  If it weren’t for Let The Right One In, I might declare it the best modern day vampire movie.  But Let The Right One In transcends the genre to deliver both a gruesome killer and a dramatic romance that delivers on both ends, perfectly.

While I would recommend Thirst to any Park Chan-wook or violence fan, Let The Right One In is a must see for anyone serious about film that can put up with a rated-R film.  The last 20 minutes are truly epic.

Ratings:
Thirst: 4 /5
Let The Right One In: 5 /5

I’m starting to get some more free time, so I hope to write several reviews in the next couple months.  I actually haven’t been watching all that many movies and my bluray collection is way backed up.  Just starting to go through them any night that I don’t have plans already.

Two interesting vampire movies I watched recently: Thirst (Park Chan-wook / Korean) and Let the Right One In (Swedish).  Both are great!  But totally different styles.  I think I will compare these two in the next post, though I’ve already forgotten a lot about Thirst since it was in theaters several months ago.

Recent purchases include:
Gojira (US bluray)
28 Days Later (bluray)
Nikkatsu Noir – Eclipse DVD collection
Audition (US bluray)
Tokyo! (US bluray)
Tokyo Sonata (UK import bluray)
Kagemusha (Criterion bluray)
Ghost in the Shell 2nd Gig (Anime Legends DVD box)

Also, if anyone comments, please do so in a way that doesn’t look like spam… I think it’s 99.9% spam and so it’s hard to filter out.  I may change the settings so you can’t post links.

Here are a bunch of mini reviews of things I watched from the festival and since then:

All Around Us (Gururi no Koto) -4/5 (CIFF09)
Great, though quite slow.  A family-drama that leaves many messages about living life and the connections between loved ones, especially a spouse.  Some characters were a bit annoying, though it can’t be helped if art imitates reality.

Surveillance -3/5 (CIFF09)
Not horrible, but could have been much better, in my opinion.  Some twists in the plot, some of which are predictable.  But this is no action movie.  It’s almost all dialogue, and awkward dialogue at that, for the first three-quarters of the film.  Probably would have been better as a short.

Chaser (Chugyeoja) – 5/5 (CIFF09)
Excellent thriller.  Korean movies contain some of the best psycho-killer/ detective movies and this is one of them for sure.  Though not as epic as a Park Chan-wook film, it has great pacting, characters, tone, and is interesting to watch.  Some gory parts.  Worth tracking down.

Sparrow (Man Jeuk) – 2/5 (CIFF09)
Too slow, and too long.  The plot is not interesting enough to make a whole movie out of, though it did hold my attention.  What was there was executed well and had some nice imagery.

White on Rice – 4/5 (CIFF09)
Good feel-good comedy.  You kind of root for the main character, and definitely grow to like his quirks.  You can see a lot of miscommunications that a Japanese-American may come across, and this really hits home if you have some familiarity with a non-native English speaker.  Plot is a bit uninspired, but serviceable for fun.

Meatball Machine – 1/5
After seeing the excellent Machine Girl, and iffy Tokyo Gore Police… I knew that Meatball Machine could go either way.  And it was bad.  Bad in a bad way.  Even for a B-movie, there is nothing really interesting that goes on.  The characters are beyond boring… enough to make a user manual seem a worthwhile use of time.  Gross out moments are not realistic or that gross if you’ve seen either of the mentioned ultra-gore movies.  Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this movie to even gore fans.

Tale of Two Sisters (Korean) – My 2nd viewing – 4/5
Although it’s probably one of the best Korean horror films I’ve seen, the rewatch isn’t that great.  The characters are a little boring and the pacing slow, but the ending and mystery is pretty good.  Although it’s a must see for asian horror fans, you really probably only need to see it once.  Compare with Ju-On, which I can watch many times and still enjoy.

Hi all.

Once again, I will be attending the Cleveland International Film Festival.  This year I will be seeing 5 films over 3 days.

They are:
All Around Us (Gururi no Koto) – Japan
Surveillance – USA
Chaser (Chugyeoja) – Korea
Sparrow (Man Jeuk) – Hong Kong
White on Rice – USA

I will be twittering from Cleveland this weekend, but will probably not be able to see any replies until I return or get access to a computer.  You can expect reviews of the above movies when I’m back!

Remember the last time you just walked through the park without anything on your mind?  That’s about what I felt while watching Late Autumn.  There is a tenderness and light-heartedness to the plot and pacing.  Late Autumn doesn’t try to hit you with a huge build-up of anticipation and huge disappointment.  Following Equinox Flower’s ending of acceptance, Late Autumn continues Ozu’s tone of forgiveness in family conflicts.  This leads to a not-very-dramatic drama.  In fact, I enjoyed the comedy more than the actual drama of Late Autumn.

The characters are once again what makes this Ozu film so enjoyable.  Like Ozu’s other family dramas, Late Autumn has his usual cast of characters: middle-aged and youthful salarymen (and salarywomen), widowed wives, and the rest.  The salarymen are chummy and have their usual set of silly sayings, mocking their hostess at one point, and laughing at their own antics when their plots fail.  The men act like boys in many ways, and they especially remind me of the boys from I Was Born, But….

The main cause of their plot is Ayako, who refuses to marry until her widowed mother re-marries.  Not standing the thought of her lonely mother after marrying away, she continues to deny the thought of marriage even after finding her mate.  Ayako is a dynamic character.  She starts out very traditional and pleasing to all, but when she suspects her mother of hiding secrets of remarrying, she quickly becomes the spoiled brat that youth is portrayed as in Tokyo Twilight.  One can’t help but change your opinion of her as her emotions sway her to extremes.

Late Autumn combines several elements of Ozu’s other films together, and doesn’t try to really hit any emotion too hard.  One is free to enjoy the comedy, drama, or just simple daily-life of old Tokyo which Ozu does the best.  Because of this mish-mash of elements, I felt that the movie played quite smoothly from start to finish, and is an easy watch.  There are a few insights into life and deep thoughts, but nothing that will bog you down or really appreciate more than a subtle reference.  Until the last scene, there isn’t all that much reflection.  And it’s fine that way.

Rating: 4 /5