Decision to Leave (2022)

Decision to Leave is quite a tone shift for the celebrated director of films like Lady Vengeance, Oldboy, and The Handmaiden. While his films have often incorporated humour, Decision to Leave borders on farce, from the absurdity of the script to the bold directing choices designed to illicit laughs. But to see it only as that is reductive. It also touches on feelings of remorse and loss while playing with the femme fetal trope as a device, something he leaned into a little much for my tastes. In the end for me Decision to Leave was inconsistent enough that it it didn't grab me as much as it might have otherwise. But that doesn't mean it's not fascinating and often quite entertaining.  

Decision to Leave is the story of a cop who falls for a suspect, a beautiful woman who may or many not be guilty but keeps turning up associated with crimes. And she's foreign to add to the cliched nature of the character. I struggled with his choice to focus on this hackneyed plot point, especially because he has his central character ham it up for the camera instead of taking it on seriously. Was he mocking the idea? I didn't get that from the film's story which, by the end, seems dead set on making this story tragic. The first half is silly often to the point of ridiculous but then second becomes so over dramatic. Perhaps I was missing something in how it got to where it was going, but I was never able to be fully onboard. 

In spite of that there were very interesting aspects of the film which pulled me in. Kim Ji-yong's amazing cinematography was fascinating; playful in parts while classically dramatic in others. This was juxtaposed with the film being lit in a pedestrian manner, making it often feel like an independent film as opposed to the lush, rich environments I'm used to in Park's films. Again this dichotomy was jarring for me.  Again perhaps I am missing something said by this. But it made the film gripping to watch. 

But as the film reached its almost operatic conclusion, I was struggling to well up the emotion necessary to truly embrace it. I have certainly been thinking about it since. Decision to Leave is provoking, but I'm not sure always in a way that is encouraging. 

Decision to Leave

Starring: Tang Wei, Park Hae-il

Writer/Director: Park Chan-wook