Park Chan-wook crafts a suspenseful, warm, and deeply conflicted thriller about a detective falling in love with one of his suspects, which will leave audiences everywhere saddened and torn over the outcome as their cat and mouse game comes to a head.
**Screened during the 58th Chicago International Film Festival**
A Classic Noir Premise
Detective Hae-Jun (played by Park Hae-Il) is investigating the death of a rock climber which appears accidental. However, as the case goes on, he begins to lose his perspective due to interactions with the climber’s wife Seo-rae (played by Tang Wei) – ignoring the facts right in front of him as his partner continues to point out the likelihood that the wife was involved.
This setup harkens back to so many gumshoe detectives that become too close to their cases, their suspects, and the tantalizing issue of that tension. Where did the line get crossed? When did the detective lose their perspective on the reality and facts of the case? Why do we care about this conflict ourselves?
Many mediocre or average stories in this genre typically fail at giving us satisfying answers to those questions and issues, but not so with Decision to Leave. Chan-wook isn’t interested in giving us soap opera-esque reasoning or cheap reversals at the last moment. You really walk away from the film debating yourself over how you feel about the proceedings and questioning whether those feelings are right. That’s the mark of Chan-wook’s masterful hand at play as we’ve seen him do time and time again with his Vengeance series.
Killer Desire
The pairing of Tang Wei opposite Park Hae-Il is fascinating, as their chemistry is fairly evident from their first moments on screen, driving home the tension in the film. Wei does a fantastic job in her emoting, her delivery, and keeps so much of her performance closed off. As an audience member, you’re not sure whether to believe she’s murdered her husband or not, and that’s just how Chan-wook wants it. In comparison to the BBC’s Luther series where Alice (portrayed by Ruth Wilson) is straightforward with her intentions and desires, we never get a moment like that from Seo-rae which helps further the idea of innocence.
There’s a shift halfway, while a bit unexpected, allows us multiple chances to explore how the facts/details are laid out and see what we might have missed earlier on. So many mysteries or crime dramas can lose their effectiveness on subsequent viewings, however such a well-woven story thrives off repeat watches to catch the small details in this relationship and what you might have missed.
I won’t say much more regarding the shift because it makes the proceedings much more interesting and would spoil the last half, but it ultimately changes the dynamic of their relationship significantly. At first, Detective Hae-Jun is infatuated, intoxicated by Seo-rae, and pursues and surveils her to no end, though hesitant to let her into his thoughts completely. However once that line is crossed, it makes him incredibly vulnerable and leads to a complicated relationship between them, as more and more details of the case come out.
It truly drives home the idea of conflicting desires and how passion can intoxicate and blind someone from the truth that’s staring them in the face. Yet, even as our characters start to realize how their desires are incompatible, we’re still left wondering whether they were wrong for those in the first place. Chan-wook doesn’t give you any path out, leaving audiences everywhere to determine that for themselves right up to the final scene.
Humorous Side
If you’re not as familiar with Korean language dramas, you’re honestly in for a great treat. Whether it’s the various police partners interacting with Hae-Jun, being too dedicated (or aloof) to their jobs, or tracking down turtle thieves (can’t say anymore, but it’s side-splitting hilarious when we get to that point), these moments help us digest the main story threads and keeps a lighter feeling to the affairs.
Hae-Il plays his role fairly straight, so it allows his fellow castmates the opportunity to deliver lines in response to his dryness. When he does deliver a line that’s legitimately hilarious, it hits well because it stands in contrast to how he’s portrayed himself up to that point.
That doesn’t mean that these moments are devoid of impact, so many of them are happening right before we get into another deep moment or point of friction between Detective Hae-Jun and another suspect who’s eluded him so far. Or they relate to another issue that he’s dealing with, either with another case or his relationship with his own wife. Humor that can be used effectively to also reveal things about our characters makes them more impactful inclusions and feels less cheap or tacked on to the narrative; here Decision excels and then some.
Final Thoughts
It’s extremely difficult to improve upon or offer something significant to a long-standing genre that’s had masterful releases in books, movies, and television for over a century now. And yet, Park Chan-wook has found a way to make such a compelling story that he’s delivered a rare improvement and perfectly challenging entry into the genre.
Score: 10 out of 10
Given the impact this film had in South Korea and is doing well internationally around the festival circuit, I wouldn’t be surprised if this film gets a lot of well-deserved Oscar buzz later this year.
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