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Director Park Chan-wook's latest work ``Thirst'' attracted more than 170,000 cinemagoers Thursday, the first day of its screening.
The film, which tells the story of a priest who becomes a vampire, was screened at 410 theaters across the country. Movie experts say if this pace continues, more than one million may watch the movie over the coming weekend.
The first-day figure is meaningful enough, given the age limit of 18 and the running time of 133 minutes, according to critics.
The film's bright start might have been preordained due to several factors. In addition to the weight of director Park, ``Thirst'' has been invited to the Cannes Film Festival.
Nonetheless, it remains to be seen whether the film's current momentum will be maintained, because people's reactions are poles apart.
The movie most obviously alludes to the first three chapters of Genesis. Sang-hoon (Song) is a devout Catholic priest residing peacefully in the house of God, like Adam in the Garden of Eden.
His only flaw is that he is overly zealous ― in the novel, which Park co-wrote with scriptwriter Jeong Seo-gyeong and novelist Choi In, we learn that Sang-hoon always had a dangerous propensity to sacrifice whatever means for salvation.
Despite the behest of his father figure, Father Noh (Park In-hwan, ``The Quiet Family''), Sang-hoon volunteers for a risky medical experiment in Africa that the Vatican has yet to approve. There, he contracts a virus ― most appropriately called Eve ― and dies, but a transfusion with mysterious blood returns him back to ``life'' as a vampire.
When he comes home, news of Sang-hoon's resurrection attracts a cult following of the desperate and the decrepit who are seeking miracles.
But Sang-hoon eventually succumbs to his thirst for blood and other hitherto tamed basic instincts, and begins a sexual relationship with his friend's wife Tae-ju (starlet-turned-femme fatale Kim Ok-vin, ``Dasepo Naughty Girls'').
He casts off his vestigial collar and allows himself to be persuaded by Tae-ju to kill her impotent husband (most convincingly played by Shin Ha-kyun, a star of ``Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance''). |
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