‘Decision to leave’: Disagreement of feelings

Following its successful passage to the 75th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Director award, there was much anticipation to see what Park Chan-wook’s new exercise was like six years after that wonder called “The Maiden.” Interest, already high for a film by the director of ‘Oldboy’, grew even more when the South Korean Film Academy decided to submit, for the first time, a feature film signed by the director for the best international film category . After passing through the 67th edition of Seminci in Valladolid, where a server could see him and where he won the award for best editing for Kim Sang-beom, it was when the decision of the Asian country to have dared with ‘Decision to Leave’ was understood.

Already become one of the favorites of the 2022-2023 awards season, with her eyes on the Oscar after being BAFTA Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Director; ‘Decision to Leave’ hits commercial theaters determined to be the title that appeals to both Park’s film fans and those outside of his work, known precisely for its brutality and extreme violence. However, the director moves away from these concepts to narrate a passionate, timeless and impossible love story, tinged with film noir, with a classic, elegant and deeply delicate execution.

But you must have two very clear concepts. First, ‘Decision to Leave’ has nothing to do with the brutality and extreme violence of his masterpieces such as ‘Oldboy’, ‘Sympathy for Lady Vengeance’ or ‘La doncella’. Furthermore, it would appear that Park seeks to take a radical turn and step out of his comfort zone, rather narrating an epic romantic story with a classic edge than masquerading as a crime thriller. And this is where the second one comes into play, well Note Park’s mastery of violent narration, serving as a mere cover for a slowly developing passion and who travels through the dark paths of love, heartbreak and the fatal outcome of an impossible story.

Though Park, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jeong Seo-kyeong, essentially focuses on the protagonist Park Hae-il, who looks like a contemporary Korean version of Humphrey Bogart; really, the Chinese actress Tang Wei who dazzles in that ambiguous role that goes between the femme fatale, the vigilante and the pragmatic. Both exude a chemistry that evokes that of Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung in “Wishing to love” or, more closely, that of Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan in one of the universes of “All at once everywhere”.

Park Chan-wook jumps without a net with a delicate masterpiece

Only These elements make ‘Decision to Leave’ a film in its own right. Yes, the feelings, the sensations, the fury, the brutality, the sordid, everything is contained. However, all these aspects, the director used as mere accessories twisted, twisted stories, in which its characters are caught up in a spiral of contradictions and desires. This was seen both in the aforementioned ‘Oldboy’ or ‘La doncella’ and in ‘Decision to Leave’. Park knows how to grasp the consequences of experiencing an impossible love, only this time he opts for the delicacy.

Added to this an elegant staging that promotes that atmosphere and sensationsby Ryu Seong-hie; a music that reinforces that contained passion that struggles to unleashsigned by Jo Yeong-wook and exquisite photography, by Kim Ji-yong, who knows how to reproduce that contrast between the sea and the mountain and with which Park refers to the vision of Confucius on both natural elements and which are reflected in the feelings of its female protagonist.

Park steps out of his comfort zone and jumps without a net an exquisite film that demonstrates the courage of a director who tries to go beyond his limits. An extraordinary feature film, which invites the audience to let themselves be carried away by that passion that its protagonists do not allow. In between, he dabbles a criminal plot executed in a sublime way, which allows us to dilate the sensations produced by this impossible love between a police inspector and a hypnotic suspect. It is gratifying to see that Park, the leading promoter of Korean cinema internationally, is also one of the filmmakers in this new wave of popularity enjoyed by the industry in the Asian country.

Note: 9

The best: Time management in a story that splits in two in a tremendously metaphorical way, referring to Confucius and his vision of the mountains and the sea.

Worse: Its beginning is somewhat sped up compared to what will be seen in the rest of the film.