Asian Vampire

A film taking on a bloody thirsty journey into a world of vampire is only asking to be jagging through a number of clichés that would be found in many movies prior. And yet the Korean made film “Thirst” reinvents the myth while struggling to explore the savage side of human life.

It’s a beautiful film while maintains a sort of ugliness.

Yes, it’s a vampire film. But it is much more than that. The character development and slow progress of vampirism makes this one miles and miles better than anything the sappy Twilight films strive to be. The film “Thirst” is sexy and alarming, tapping into the canal feelings that may invite every one of us to visit the dark side of nature. At the same time, it tells us what limits human beings have while lusting in love.

Probably can be seen as a more mature version of Twilight.

This director already made one of my favorite all time movies called Oldboy and has an inventive way of telling the story. The director Park Chan-Wook has a way of tapping into the more crude existence of our souls. The film is savage, raw, and simply beautiful at the same time. And then it struggles to give us a peeping tom voyeurism into the creepy side of a vampire’s life.

Sang Hyun plays a Catholic priest who gives last rites to those who perish from the strange virus that attacks only Asians and Caucuasions, therefore putting himself into danger as well. But while he is determined and wants to help those in need, he is also a conflicted soul. He has self doubt and watches the troubled human souls from the edges of pain. Finally he is cast aside from mortality to shed the skins of his old life. But he becomes the only survivor of a vastness of disease. But he leaves with a survival with an founded curse. He develops a need for drinking blood to stave off the virus he has.

But this character is torn between two worlds. Of light and dark. Of righteousness and deviousness. In one world, he is a Catholic who is holding on to old traditions. In another world, he is a vampire who rushes through the night looking for ways to fuel his blood rage while not killing anyone.

There are nice touches of humor.

The Catholic priest attempts to commit suicide. This would be sin for him. And yet he can’t do it.

The spots of blood lust.

His thumb is covered with blood. You see him licking the blood a hurried and offhand way. He is like a reptile, an animal.

And he rediscovers those elements when he meets with an old childhood friend who takes care of a very pretty adopted daughter Tae-ju who is clearly one of the most beautiful Asian woman I’ve seen in films. She is wonderfully played by Kim Ok-bin. Her lovely faces traces a soothing innocence.

She is a beautiful scorn of female perfection. Yet she manipulates, a tireless selfishness burns inside her. She is married to an idiot. But she passes all her flaws to the other people around her, husband, mother, father. While she latches on to her own desires for her own satisfaction. She is like the beast of lust herself. Much like the Catholic priest she tempts. And she brings him over to a world of sex and love. And sometimes the two doesn’t even mix.

The sex scenes are pivotal to the film. They are the central role to the bestiality of humanity. They are creepy while erotic at the same time. They are lustrous while beaming with a side of savagery. It’s like lust on a burning drug. It isn’t good for either one of them. And yet they fell to the lusts of their darker desires. The woman part is a difficult one to play because she must play innocent while being a manipulate woman beneath the surface of mean spirited façade. It is a perverted Asian film that stretches the limits of beauty.

The film really does examine the guilt and ugly side of human nature once it flies into a full throttled speed. It latches onto you and lever lets you go as you are dragged deeper into the world of darkness. You find yourself nauseated with the sex scenes and yet you are intrigued by it. And the human body of the woman never looked this good. The naked appeal of her body is flawless texture. It is like seeing a porcelain stature coming to life. She drags the priest into becoming a killing machine.

The film is a strange one. But what else would you expect when it comes to vampires? And you find yourself feeling sorry for the people in this movie because they are so guilt ridden with self induced hatred. The girl who is so bored out of her mind for wanting to leave a dead end family.

And the priest who is falling deeper into the seven deadly sins. And his contempt at immortality finally brings to him a small measure of humanity in the very ending of the film.

“Thirst” has become the winner of the Winner of the Grand Jury Prize in the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and rightfully so. This also achieved critical and box-office acclaim in Asia. But I would doubt that it would see any popular reception like the Twilight series did. “Thirst” is such a strange beast.

In Twilight, you’re stuck with a bunch of perfect Hollywood looking appearances. They look like paper perfect beautiful people. And that’s no fun when they’re all so picture pretty. But “Thirst” has a way of showing an ugly side of beauty. This is where Twilight goes so wrong. You have so many hunky looking guys that teenager girls can go for. Twilight is just stupid pretty.

But in “Thirst” you have to praise the Catholic priest who isn’t a very good looking person himself. And his soul is somewhat dark as well. It’s a very different kind of exploring into the raw side of life. Something Twilight never does.

Vampires certainly rule in the Asian world. But it’s sort of sick.

"Thirst" doesn't score all the points in the beauty contest. But it is stark, raw.

Again, this one is creepy. Try to watch this one in the dark. It'll make you feel sleazy and satisfield all at once.

The Storm of Water in Doctor Who

It seems the television landscape is a little empty without the long string of Doctor Who episodes that comes with the season. Now we're already feeling the effects of cravings for more episodes. The show comes less regularly this year.

After the long hiatus throughout the summer, and with the exception of one rather large role in the Sarah Jane Adventures, the Doctor returns finally with an adventure to his name. Back where he belongs on his own series.

It is certainly a good episode.

It packs a whallop worthy of Who.

Might have been worth the wait after all. The Doctor Who special “Waters of Mars” made its debut on the BBC just in time for the Thanksgiving holidays on Nov. 15. Maybe it was a little early. But I'm sure most audiences couldn't wait anymore.

The episode written by Russell T. Davies and Phil Ford works on inspiration. Simple, pure, effective, the menace of water. Some notion of water on Mars isn't a new idea. It's been a theory kicking around for many years in the field. And this is real science stating that Mars might have been very much like our own world millions of years ago. Their conclusion comes from the possible ingredients of water being held in the ice caps in the north and south poles of the angry red planet.

But this show offers the water being somehow infected with an alien presence. There's much more to it than that. It was like a hidden secret that broke out from the grounds. Perhaps anyone who takes a regular job out in the space station, or might consider being part of a colony on Mars, should watch this episode. “Waters of Mars” show that some presence could be downright nasty, and what's out there might not be so pretty. It's awful ugly.

The story explores the ideas of war… the casualties left behind on the battleground. And the Doctor being slap in the middle of it. Worse, the Doctor is portrayed as helpless.

The mood and content in the story creates a very effective atmosphere. They are trapped on a Bowie Base One with very little place left to go. And the only outside contact they have is through sprinkled transmissions of televised messages from earth. Such as one Captain Adelaide Brookes received from her daughter and granddaughter. (The captain character is nicely played by Lindsey Duncan).

She heads a team of scientists out on the surface of Mars with little more than perseverance and wit. Whenever the Doctor shows up, however, trouble looms behind him like the fires of hell.

The show does become one of choices. And the Doctor realizes he comes to a place and time where it is all fixed. Here the chain of events would start from this single place on the Mars base. Then he realizes that the people, the lives, are already taken place in history. And he should be simply be an observer. And leave history alone.

But that's never stopped the Doctor.

He realizes that he can alter or change the course of time to better fit his smug arrogance. This episode shows a side of David Tennant we haven't seen before as the Doctor. He is self-righteous, arrogant, simply ignorant of his own actions. He grows more reckless, confused, finally calling the very end of the story a “Time Lord Victorious” after doing away with the alien menace.

But his actions take on more consequences. He manages to save three people from the Mars team, but his acts are taking on grave implications. One of them commits suicide after she realizes what the Doctor has done to change history. He has seem to pull the string from the ball and everything is going out of proportion. Now chaos is reigning in his choices made. And he doesn't seem to care. His arrogance is showing no bounds now.

He is growing more like Christopher Eccleston's Doctor now, a soldier, a winner, someone who likes violence. And grows to enjoy wrecking havoc. This was what the Doctor was like before he regained his humanity. Now he seems to be losing his humanity. Not a good thing.

David Tennant's performance mirrors many interesting characteristics. And it's a magnetic performance on the same level as the great Tom Baker as he shows many different emotions, a trapped man filled with desperate measure. Tennant will be leaving the part very soon. It's regrettable that he did not stay on for another full season. Which I would have preferred. Now Tennant only has two more shows after this. Enjoy them while you can because he isn't sticking around very long anymore.

“Waters of Mars” is a magnificent episode that works like a movie... it's very big on a grand scale while still remaining intimate because we, as an audience, are seeing a side of the Doctor not seen before. Initimate are the conversations between the captain and the Doctor.

I really thought it's a nice addition of placing an Asian woman along with the team... an actress named Gemma Chan who is a very beautiful woman. She has soft features and a flowing blanket of dark hair that makes her stand out compared to the others. The Asian culture has been very sadly lacking in the series ever since from the start. It would have been nice of the Doctor to take her along, but his actions have put her off. And she took everything in far too quickly, making her very distrustful of him after saving her life.

However, I would like to see her return to the series again if possible.

I really doubt it. But it would be a nice switch to see an Asian woman as a companion. We've had just about everything else as a companion.

The performance of the two leads were very gripping as they seem to play a game of chess with their feelings, their emotions. And when the show grows nearer to the end, you find yourself siding with Captain Brookes rather than the Doctor in all manner of conversation. You really do have a feeling that the Doctor is starting to lose his humanity.

There's a reason why he always has a companion. Because people remind him of who or what people are. His companions remind the Doctor of who he is. His companions are his only anchor to reality. They keep him on the straight and narrow. But the Doctor hasn't been traveling with anyone. He's been by himself. For the longest time.

Now it's starting to wear down on him, this loneliness. And we'll be seeing more of this in the following final shows of this year as his past mistakes, his choices will be catching up with him. It will not be long before he will have to face his actions instead of running away from them.

Timeless Wedding Crasher

Ah, yes, there was one time when the Doctor Who series was thought as a children's show. Something to be carted off to the youngest, the little tikes who would be ushered into the living room at tea time. The wee generation of tottlers.

Children would be following the time traveler who didn't exactly express himself as the best role model for kids. Well, he did steal the TARDIS from his own people! Sort of a mortal sin, isn't it? That's against one of the old ten commandments if you really want to get all puffy about it.

But here you are, forty years later, it's sparked off one children's show in the form of “Sarah Jane Adventures.”

If you're like me, old and doddering, maybe not that old, but you'll remember Sarah Jane as being the smart, very expressive girl, a journalist. So she's no dummy. Fact is, she's able to hold off on her own against the wily Doctor in her time. I'm talking about the Doctor in the form of Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker.

That's a pretty tough time. If you're a young, perky girl who was an erstwhile companion to the third and fourth Doctors, you're in good company. You had to be pretty smart if you're hanging around with the Doctor anyway.

Now this. She's having her own wedding in her own series last week in the episode “The Wedding of Sarah Jane.”

Mind you, it's a bit of a forward step for the young, brash journalist who spent most of her time being alone, minding her own life, always writing, spending her time between the paper factory, chasing her stories. Or, what the reporters would often call it, the Enterprise story. That's when you're harking after your own story, in hopes that the editor will like it enough to throw it into print. Maybe even carting it off on the front page.

But who would have thought that Sarah Jane might consider marriage? She's not the type, really. But that's what she is doing in the episode.

However, some creepy old creature, a kind of tempest, calls himself the Trickster, is trying to tie the final knot between Sarah Jane and a solid, old gentleman who happened to have died in a car accident.

However, in the last few sends before the big words “I do” came straight out of her mouth, she's once against affronted by a certain party pooper as the Doctor comes crashing in on the party. It's sort of something he would do.

Now, this is Sarah Jane Smith's third time she is meeting up with the tenth Doctor well acted by David Tennant with tons of energy and spunk. Who knows where all that manic energy and craziness is coming from?

It's sort of a nice wedding gift in the form of David Tennant if you're really thinking about it. With only three more one hour specials to go under his belt, he'll be soon relinquishing his role. That means the era of the tenth Doctor only has less than a couple months. I'm still pissed at Tennant for leaving after four years in the part.

But he puts in all his effort and attention into the part. And it's not just a small cameo he's doing. It's an full on role where he is a prime mover of the plot and story. And he's still very good in the part, rather dashing. So in a way, it's an added one hour and time and footage of the tenth Doctor. For fans of David Tennant and Doctor Who alike, don't miss this one. It's worth the effort in catching up with what the time traveler is doing, seeing how he is spending his time.

It's sort of sad how Sarah Jane asks the Doctor if this will be the last time she'll be seeing him. And it's a foreshadowing of things to come when the tenth Doctor gives a faint, “I don't know.”

So if you can't get enough of the Doctor in this episode, you might want to check out what the Brigadier has been doing in his retirement days, another nice nostalgic moment for Sarah Jane and her gallant crew of youngsters, even an adopted son Luke she's been sharing in her life. You can find it in the episode “Enemy of the Bane.”

They're fun shows. Go ahead. Take a trip down on memory lane with these couple of shows and ask yourself, “Are these really children shows?”

I do believe that the Sarah Jane Adventures have found their its, a little bit of maturity that has been developing in this series. Either way, it's not a bad idea to spend a few last moments with Doctor Who before things get crazy for him in the Thanksgiving episode, Christmas and finally New Year's Eve before there's going to be plenty changes when Tennant's leaves the Doctor Who series.

Fifth Time's the Charm

It has been a pretty good past couple of months for the Fifth Doctor era from the British favorite Doctor Who series that has been around for nearly half a century now. And it hasn't shown its age. Not at all.

British icon Peter Davison was a popular choice to step up to the challenge of playing the title role for the long running series, with his gleam of blond hair and innocent grin. The naive charm of his persona was expressive when he was cast into the part starting in 1981. He relinquished the role in 1983 with twenty stories under his belt.

Let's not forget: Davison is the only original actor from the old BBC series to come back to reprise his role as the Doctor in the segment called "Time Crash" written by Stephen Moffatt.

In the recent Doctor Who magazine, which has been a mainstay in the publishing grind, they ran a contest of finest stories to worst ones from its myriad of two hundred stories of Doctor Who so far. For the number one slot, Davison's final story “The Caves of Androzani” was rated very highly by fans. It was an atmospheric story penned by Robert Holmes which was to pit the Fifth Doctor against a band of business deals running amok between struggling parties. And the Fifth Doctor and his companion would be caught in the middle of their pitiful war.

It was the crowning jewel in the cradle of entertaining stories.

It was a fitting end to the time travelling saga for Davison who reached his a culmination of stories here. It was too bad that he didn't stay on for a fourth year as originally intended.
Just this last week another chapter of the Fifth Doctor period was refurnished and given the digital treatment when it hit the shelves on Nov. 3. It was the entire trilogy of the Black Guardian storyline making its way to fan collections everywhere. And rightfully so.

During the 1980s, when the popular swing was hitting its stride for Davison, there grew a leaning interest for interconnected stories... three stories wrapped up to be a single whole. This Black Guardian trilogy would be the third time the series did so.

Some people complained about the stories being too complicated. Others fumed over the sudden dependence of the series history to bring back old villains. No matter what you do, no one is going to be completely happy with what you do. Maybe folks just have too much time on their hands.

I did like the stories very much. And remember them with a whimsical breeze of nostalgia as I have first seen them during my younger days. I thought they were well done... and against many people who complained that Davison was far too young to play the title role, I liked Davison very much. I thought he gave the right amount of portraying an old man trapped in a young body.

You can see he would often find every fight to be an uphill struggle for him. A very vulnerable man.

The first story “Mawdryn Undead” introduces a new companion in Turlough, the red headed weasel you couldn't trust as far as you can throw him. Which wouldn't be far. But he's a brilliant character as he works against the Doctor as an unwilling agent of evil. It creates a nice framework for the next three stories. His stirring eyes always hiding a deadly secret. His character was certainly someone you loved to hate.

This chapter was a ghoulish, creep account of several scientists, led by Mawdryn, who were trapped on a ship living eternal lives. They were not evil men. They were merely scientists mislead by their eager enthusiasm for knowledge. There's the nice addition of the Brigadier, the well loved character from the Third Doctor period, a form fitting soldier who was always by the book, now retired and teaching school. He is always wonderfully portrayed by Nicholas Courtney. It's easy to see why he's well liked. Just watch this episode.

The other chapters “Terminus” and “Enlightenment” follow through the same format of the countering forces of Turlough and the Doctor, like good and evil, light and dark, they were always the opposing sides of the same coin. Mark Strickson, who played Turlough, said in one of his interviews that he enjoyed his time in the series. And it certainly shows when he could imbue such ugly menace through his presence. He remains one of the most interesting characters for the series. Like a conflicted animal in a cage.

The episode “Terminus” is a nice exit for Nyssa, a long time companion, my own favorite companion from the Davison period. They play her theme music which enshrouds the beauty and charm of her character. There's a nice trend that surfaces through all the stories... the idea of immortality is explored in every chapter here.

Turloug’s role as the assassin of the Doctor would reach its end with the episode “Enlightenment” as he would join the Doctor and his other companion Tegan on a contest of racing boats in space... it was a very imaginative script by Barbara Clegg who postulates an idea of a race of immortals who borrow ships and people from earth's history to perform their races out of sheer boredom. It's a great story with a many good acting moments from Davison himself. He looks like he is enjoying his role and settling in nicely.

The show is also directed by a woman. So it’s really a woman’s show this time around.

The third story is really about choice. And what side you would go on? It's nice to see the Doctor pushed back into the background as Turlough becomes more of the central character in these three stories. So the fate of the Doctor remains in his hands. And the story resolves itself as not making the race the focus, but the choice itself. The enlightened choice, you could say.

There is a nice added feature to the special menu where you can trigger the CGI affects. I would recommend watching it this way as it makes you feel like you're watching the old episodes in a entirely different way. The restoration team does a nice job of adding some slick effects and updating the model shots that were otherwise faulty in the old shows.

Davison provides a fresh performance here that is breezy and youthful as it was when the shows were first aired. And you have the pleasure to once again enjoy the entertaining aspects of this particular era that may cater to the more youthful audiences, however they do offer some very nice stories. They feel as invigorating and resourceful as they once were. So why don't you get your cricket ball and bat and follow through the adventures with the ever youthful Fifth Doctor. You'll find the stories are in your favor.