Seeking out the
5000 greatest films
in a century of cinema
Decision to Leave
Heojil kyolshim
Directed by
Chan-wook Park
Produced by Chan-wook Park and KO Dae-seok
Written by Park Chan-wook and Jeong Seo-kyeong
Produced by Chan-wook Park and KO Dae-seok
Written by Park Chan-wook and Jeong Seo-kyeong
With:
Hae-il Park, Wei Tang, Lee Jung-hyun, Go Kyung-Pyo, PARK Yong-woo, Shin-Young Kim, Jung Young Sook, Seung-mok Yoo, Teo Yoo, Jeong Min Park, Seo Hyun-woo, Jeong Ha-dam, and Hak-joo Lee
Cinematography:
KIM Ji-yong
Editing: Sang-beom Kim
Music: Yeong-wook Jo
Editing: Sang-beom Kim
Music: Yeong-wook Jo
Runtime:
138 min
Release Date: 29 June 2022
Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1
Color: Color
Release Date: 29 June 2022
Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1
Color: Color
Dang, Park Chan-wook can shoot a movie! The acclaimed Korean writer/director behind The Vengeance Trilogy, Joint Security Area, and The Handmaiden returns to the well-trod neo-noir, police procedural, psychological thriller in which a cop falls for a femme fatal but in doing so serves up something that feels innovative, alive, and mesmerising. Park Hae-il (War of the Arrows, Paradise Murdered, Memories of Murder) plays a buttoned-up, insomniac detective who finds himself growing obsessed with the young Chinese wife of an abusive husband who has fallen to his death while rock climbing. Tang Wei (Long Day's Journey into Night, Finding Mr. Right, Lust Caution) plays the beautiful, potentially lethal immigrant whose occasional struggles with the Korean language provide the film with one of its many thematic layers—about communication and the meaning of what's said and unsaid.
Billy Wilder would certainly take issue with some of the POV shots in this picture, but I found myself in slack-jawed awe of how the film is structured and photographed. I'm not talking about lighting here, this is a director who knows where to put the camera (which use to be the most important part of the job!). Park visualizes how his cop protagonist's speculative forensic mind plays out potential scenarios and conversations. Soon these projections imperceptibly start to show us how he processes memories, fantasies, and other internalized thoughts and emotions.
Many may complain that this picture trades in the type of style-over-substance excesses that I often lament, but I would push back in this case. Park deservedly won the best director prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival because this is not the work of some showboating hack trying to cover up the fact that he has no story to tell. The film's use of conspicuous camera movement and arch angles that often contain multiple images—reflections, photographs, and small screens within the large screen—is all in service of the characters and their story. The busy often partially obscured or softened cinematic frames personify the uncertainties of the central figures and their desire to make sense of what's in front of them and bring order to what's going on in their minds.
Twitter Capsule:
Billy Wilder would certainly take issue with some of the POV shots in this picture, but I found myself in slack-jawed awe of how the film is structured and photographed. I'm not talking about lighting here, this is a director who knows where to put the camera (which use to be the most important part of the job!). Park visualizes how his cop protagonist's speculative forensic mind plays out potential scenarios and conversations. Soon these projections imperceptibly start to show us how he processes memories, fantasies, and other internalized thoughts and emotions.
Many may complain that this picture trades in the type of style-over-substance excesses that I often lament, but I would push back in this case. Park deservedly won the best director prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival because this is not the work of some showboating hack trying to cover up the fact that he has no story to tell. The film's use of conspicuous camera movement and arch angles that often contain multiple images—reflections, photographs, and small screens within the large screen—is all in service of the characters and their story. The busy often partially obscured or softened cinematic frames personify the uncertainties of the central figures and their desire to make sense of what's in front of them and bring order to what's going on in their minds.
Twitter Capsule:
Remember when filmmaking was about doing something exciting and MEANINGFUL with a camera? Park takes with well-trod neo-noir, police procedural, psychological thriller where a cop falls for a femme fatal and serves up something that feels innovative, alive, and mesmerising.