Kevin's Watch

I didn't know that.

I'll say I'm not so keen on the scenes in the african hospital, and the one where he begins hemorrhaging in particular seemed excessive and more there for style than purpose.

But I thought the whole element about the vampirism holding off the disease was clever, the way it's the transfusion of vampire blood that brings him back to life in the hospital. And I liked the scene where he's first discovering his condition, where his senses sharpen and he starts to hear everything around him.

His character is essentially naive. He's a catholic priest, he has no experience in relationships - it's essentially his first adult crush, an infatuation that she notices and takes advantage of. Right from the beginning, she has all the power in the relationship.

Don't get me wrong - I understand that the naivety is part of his character - it just annoyed me!

The transfusion with the vampire blood was the bit I didn't catch while watching. I assumed, as the film progressed, that that was what had happened. Is it obvious at the time, and I just missed that rather important bit? Does he know that's what he's getting?

I think it's just implied, and you need to know it's a vampire film to spot it, at least until the bit where he starts noticing peoples' pulses.

I got the impression that it was all just a big accident, no idea where the blood came from, but he was the only survivor of the disease an they obviously weren't expecting him to come back from the dead.

It's one of the big draws for me on these films, the fact they don't feel the need to spell everything out for you (I'm mainly thinking of Park's films, but also The Host, which has some of the same actors but different writer and director).

the fact they don't feel the need to spell everything out for you

Normally good for me too. *shrug* not in this case though!

I just watched Thirst again, and you're right about the early bits not being very easy to follow. I think part of it is cultural. I still don't get the bit about the cancer vanishing.

My overall impression now that it's fresh in my mind is that the film doesn't start out that well, but gets slowly better and better as it goes. It's that buildup that makes it work - particularly the way the power balance in the relationship keeps changing.

I suppose when you think of the film as a love story, the how/why of the vampirism is just an introduction - or even the what-went-before the introduction.

Vampire or love story, the conclusion is fantastic

I just finished watching The Quiet Family, another Korean film by Kim Ji-woon, featuring several actors I'd seen before in Park Chan-wook's films. I need to get better at remembering Korean actors' names, I'm terrible at that.

The film is a little shaky, and even without understanding the language it still seemed like the acting wasn't so great in parts, but overall it's a good film, a clever black comedy about a family running a mountain lodge where people keep dying or getting killed.

I have just watched Mother, a film directed by Bong Joon-ho (known for The Host) and starring Kim Hye-ja as the titular Mother who, after her mentally disabled son is arrested for murder, sets out to solve the crime and find the real killer.

Mother is brilliant. It has to be one of the best films I've seen in years. Kim plays the role of the over-protective and desperate mother perfectly, and the twists and turns of the plot play out beautifully (and, in parts, tragically).

Watch. This. Film.

Watched today: A Bittersweet Life by Kim Ji-woon.

A pretty simple film, really. It follows a well-known plot: mob enforcer gets a crisis of conscience and disobeys an order, which leads his boss to want him dead, and so he finds himself having to kill the people he used to work with. It starts out looking like there's going to be a romance, but instead the story takes a more realistic path: as much as the lead character might want it, a man like him in his situation couldn't ever end up getting the girl he wants.

Anyhow, though the plot is an old standard, the film is full of very good scenes, and has a sense of humour at times. There's a fight sequence around the middle of the film that is excellent while also being a little ridiculous at times (it occured to me that it wouldn't have been out of place in one of the Transporter films), and a brilliant and funny piece when he visits a weapons dealer and has to be shown how to put together a gun.

It's not an incredible film, but writer/director Kim Ji-woon is good at what he's doing.

Memories of Murder by Bong Joon-ho

By god this is a depressing film. A great film, but wow.

Based upon the true story of South Korea's first known serial murders. Song Kang-ho (The Host, Thirst, Joint Security Area, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance) plays Park Doo-man, the arrogant, superstitious, borderline-incompetent local detective, who would rather beat and torture suspects until they confess than carry out an investigation. Kim Roe-ha plays the officer who carries out those beatings. Kim Sang-kyung plays Seo Tae-yoon, the detective sent from Seoul to help their investigation, who disdains the efforts of the local officers and is the first to work out the patterns in the killings.

The development of Song's character, Park, is excellent, as, over the course of the film, he begins to see the consequences of his methods.

But this film lacks the moments of black humour I'd come to expect in most Korean films. There is nothing uplifting in it. People make mistakes, terrible things happen for no good reason. The real-life murders were never solved.

This is a very good film, but don't watch it to feel good.