Alternate Best Actor 2009: Song Kang-ho in Thirst

Song Kang-ho did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Sang-hyun in Thirst.

Thirst tells the story of a priest who gets infected with a deadly virus that he survives through a blood transfusion that turns him into a vampire. 

If just getting to the vampire part seems complicated, it is, and in this instance, I would say overly complicated. The whole first act of Thirst I would say is a rambling narrative as it touches upon several different ideas but in a way that is just a mess of them rather than any cohesive tapestry. We have our priest played by Song of course, who is going about his duties for dying patients. Song portrays the character very much as any priest you might see often in such scenes, having this calm dignity about him, and careful manner as he goes about administrating prayers and last rites. We essentially have the common priest for many an introspective film, as we see him in private quarters pained over potential doubts and that careful manner seems to show a depressed mood after all. Song certainly portrays this effectively and grants you a sense of the specific malaise of the man behind the apparent dignity. We then jump to his potentially suicidal act by asking to be part of an experimental vaccine for a deadly virus that will most likely kill him. And when asking for this Song certainly conveys just a man staring into the void seemingly without purpose in his life. And through the series of odd circumstances leads up to the other side as a cured man but as a vampire. Leading again for his local congregation to see him as a true healer, and I'll bluntly say this whole aspect of the film could've been cut out. It never really goes anywhere, or at least anywhere interesting, and frankly, Sang-hyun seems just slightly baffled by them. I'd extend that to really his occupation as a priest is nearly set dressing because aspects of faith and morality are barely considered and really only leave this one thread, represented by a one-note group of believers, that amount to absolutely nothing. I think again Song is more than fine in presenting sort of the man going through the motions as the healer, even as his belief is clearly failing him. 

The film remains on shaky ground as we explore Sang-hyun as he begins his feelings of bloodlust but also sexual lust that often seems more dominating than his blood lust more often than not. We discover this through his frequent visit to a family of his parishioners which includes Tae-ju (Kim Ok-bin), the young wife fed up with her husband and family. And here where the film really continues to be sloppy as Sang-hyun and Tae-ju begin an affair, and I would say would be his vampire allure I guess. Because in this stage of the relationship, Song and Kim's chemistry is limited at best. There's more than a little missing in the puzzle particularly if you say compare it to the relationship in Decision to Leave, where you instantly felt here, here it honestly just feels forced...at the start. This is both the writing and acting I think, as writing wise there just isn't enough substance to create any meaningful connection or even just lust between them, and performance wise the urge also specifically between them seems somewhat absent. Song isn't bad in these scenes mind you, he's good in presenting the hidden growing lust within his own performance, but the importance given to the relationship makes it seem like there should be more. Outside of those scenes what we get from Song is essentially the portrayal of the vampire as a junkie. And here Song is quite good in just exuding constant desperate need. Where he successfully switches within the moments of being completely enthralled in his desperate lust for blood and creates the vicious sense of that titular thirst. Against moments where he creates internally the pained conflict of the man literally drinking blood and the shame in it. He successfully creates the constant pull of conflict within the character of Sang-hyun and fashions successfully the idea of creating a very real idea within the mythic concept of vampirism. 

Where the film gets interesting, if not entirely non-sloppy still, is when he begins to take Tae-ju as a partner in his crimes, as she asks him to kill her husband for him. This is when they actually do discover some actual chemistry, what was missing in the just initial relationship, is found once they start realizing the "bond" is a wholly toxic one. This is where things get more interesting and Song's performance, while it has been always good, becomes its most dynamic. His performance particularly comes to life in terms of embodying the conflict of Sang-hyun who doesn't want to be a vampire but has to be one. In these moments about going for the murder, we see him go to his lowest, where Song conveys in his eyes the peak of the desperation that he accentuates as a mix between sexual lust, straight up hunger but also this sort of depressive urge to fall into a kind of despair that goes along with him at his lowest morality. Although I'll still say it doesn't quite have *it* in terms of making this a truly captivating depiction just yet. In fact, you have to go through him murdering the husband, then Tae-ju almost dying due to becoming regretful, which really doesn't feel earned, and leading her to almost die causing Sang-hyung to turn her into a vampire. Song portrays this moment well in instantly evoking such a striking sense of loneliness as he spirals into the act and revives her against his best judgment. And here is where we get slightly closer to something truly captivating, though not really writing wise, as Tae-ju becomes entirely vicious as a vampire and proceeds to kill indiscriminately. Song's performance shifts from the completely messed up drug addict to the one trying to temper his psychotic co-dependent. And there is something in his reaction as we see the sense of honest fear of what has he done and the attempts to be any sort of directing figure for her while she goes off on the deep end. Eventually leading to the ending of the film where he decides they need to both die from the sun, and here is where I most liked Song and the film in general. The quiet calm conviction in Song's performance as he shows perhaps the priest of old trying to hold strongly onto what is the right thing to do while also conveying the severity of what this choice means. He is moving in a subtle manner he takes as he quietly embraces Tae-ju, after fighting with her attempts to survive, and accepts their mutual fate. Having said that, my review probably seems all over the place, because for me the film was all over the place. There are moments I really like, maybe even love, in this film, but they are pieces of a puzzle that don't fit together. Even this ending could've been something truly special if we had a stronger connection to the relationship from start to finish. Instead, it is a messy situation that keeps far from one of Park Chan-wook's best films. Song for his efforts is good, consistently good even, but I'll be honest this is not one of his best performances, for me. There are aspects that suggest he could've brought something special, however, the unwieldy nature of the film, also keeps him from being able to craft a completely cohesive portrait of the reluctant vampire.