Screenhead

Park Chan-wook’s Thirst, starring Song Kang-ho, is officially in competition at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival.

Looking at these production stills, gives me a chill. It will be interesting to see how the film does at Cannes.

The story is about Sang-hyun, a priest who believes that life is precious, volunteers for a secret vaccine development project to help save lives from a deadly virus. But during the experiment, he is infected by the virus and dies. When some unidentified blood is transfused into him, he miraculously comes back to life, but the blood has turned him into a vampire. Sang-hyun is now conflicted between the carnal desire for blood and his faith, which forbids him to kill. But if he cannot survive without feasting on human blood, how can he get it without resorting to murder?

Returning home alive, Sang-hyun meets a childhood friend, Kang-woo, and his wife, Tae-ju, among a crowd of people asking for his blessing. Tae-ju’s mysterious appeal arouses yearnings in Sang-hyun he has never felt before, and she in turn is drawn to Sang-hyun and the desires previously oppressed by her weakly husband and hysterical mother-in-law. Sang-hyun falls in love with Tae-ju, enough to give up everything he is. He eventually throws off his priest’s robes and steps into her world, thirsting for all the sensual pleasures it has to offer.

Sang-hyun and Tae-ju’s love becomes more and more brazen and fearless. When Tae-ju finds out that Sang-hyun is a vampire, she backs away-but not for long. Eventually, Tae-ju seduces Sang-hyun into using his power to kill her husband. Although Sang-hyun wants desperately to avoid committing the sin, he ends up compromising his own principles and accepts Tae-ju’s request to kill Kang-woo…

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Screenhead came across these photos of the film The Spirit, which opens this Christmas. The Spirit is a pure classic of action, adventure and romance. Frank Miller wrote and directed the film based on Will Eisner popular comic book.

The tale concerns a rookie cop who returns from the dead as The Spirit (Gabriel Macht) to fight crime from the shadows of Central City. His arch-enemy, The Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) has a different idea. He wants to wipe out Spirit’s beloved city to pursue his own form of immortality. The Spirit chases this pitiless killer from Central City’s rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront… all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill the masked crusader. Encircling him at every turn are Ellen Dolan (Sarah Paulson), the whip-smart girl-next-door; Silken Floss (Scarlett Johansson), a punk secretary and frigid vixen; Plaster of Paris (Paz Vega), a murderous French nightclub dancer; Lorelei (Jaime King), a phantom siren; and Morgenstern (Stana Katic), a sexy young cop.

Oh yes… there’s Sand Saref (Eva Mendes), the jewel thief with dangerous curves. She’s the love of his life turned bad.

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Brigitte Lacombe new book, “Lacombe Anima/Persona,” offers a glimpse of Hollywood. The cool and serious portraiture, featuring images of everyone from Meryl Streep, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Miuccia Prada to a mix of well-known writers, artists, scientists, politicians, and more.

Vanity Fair showcases the book online — encompassing Lacombe’s 30-plus years behind the lens.

The above picture is Don Johnson and Melanie Griffth in 1975.

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