Bakjwi by Chan Wook Park – 2009
Again director Chan Wook Park proves that he has no lack of creativity when it comes to movie making. And if you think vampires are cool, then you can definitely try this Korean thriller. Bakjwi (English Title: Thirst), as usual is a thriller solely dependent on interplay of relationships with human psychology. Though I don’t have a thing for vampires, I’ll suggest you should give it a try. After Låt den rätte komma in, Bakjwi has been competent enough to catch my attention. If you are familiar with Chan Wook Park’s style of movie making, then you will understand what I am talking about. Chan Wook Park is such a director, whom you have to either love or hate, but you just can not ignore his creativity.
Bakjwi is a tale of Sang-hyun (Kang-ho Song), a young priest engaged in a local hospital. While volunteering for a medical project, Sang-hyun gets infected by a deadly virus. In order to save his life, he goes through blood transfusion. But this blood transfusion goes wrong and it turns him into a vampire. Now Sang-hyun gets his life back but he needs blood everyday. Rumours soon spread that Sang-hyun has a supernatural power of healing the sick. And soon he becomes popular and huge number of people begins to visit him. Kang-woo, an old friend of Sang-hyun, visits him with his wife Tae-ju (Ok-bin Kim). Soon Kang-woo’s wife and Sang-hyun develop a romantic relationship between them. This triangular relationship soon turns into murder.
This Korean flick has an interesting storyline. However, you may have to watch this movie more than twice in order to understand the story completely. Bakjwi is no way as thrilling as OldBoy but definitely you should give it a try if you admire Chan Wook-Park’s work. The direction and cinematography are excellent. But at times, the story was dragging a bit than usual. And as usual, some of the violent/ gore scenes are portrayed in the most artistic style, courtesy Chan Wook Park.
Watch the trailer of Bakjwi
My Rating - 6/10
Learn more about the movie on IMDB.

