'Decision To Leave' Review: A Gloriously Elegant Thriller
Park Chan-wook executes almost every moment of his new film "The Decision to Live" with incredible quality. The South Korean maverick has always paid homage to the genre, garnering international acclaim for his sharp and intensely confrontational revenge thriller ("Like Oldboy"). But to call her the latest "stylish" would be an understatement. Even the most magical episodes of elegantly clever murder mysteries are filled with quietly impressive craftsmanship, emphasizing themes of composition and ambiguity. Five minutes later, Park stops by why he won best director at the Cannes Film Festival this summer.
A complete review of the film listing amazing scenes, shots and clues can be omitted. As a fugitive criminal runs across the roof, his body leaves the frame to reveal a small path in the background, as the pursuing policeman walks through it and appears. How about that same detective zooming in through the car's side mirror, then opening the car door to catch someone with (high) interest in the same reflection? And speaking of mirrors, Park installs one-way type and a video screen to avoid the usual flat/reversed vocabulary of many sequences set in interrogation rooms. What happens between the detective and the suspect is captured in dramatic fashion, with each visual shot serving as a ruse and a counterpoint.
The suspect is Seo-Re (Tang Wei), a middle-aged Chinese guard. Her seventy-year-old husband died in an unlikely accident on the slopes. Seo-rae is dumbfounded by the incident and the photo of her body covered in festival bugs. Perhaps the bruises and hidden marks on his body give a clue as to why. Detective Hae-joon (Park Hye-il) is suspicious by nature. But he had clearly deceived the widow by calmly answering her questions from the side of the table. Or are you looking for something to have fun with? Hae-joon goes to Busan for a few hours, an event that drains her nerves and her marriage.
A sleep-deprived insomniac, married to work for his wife (Lee Jung-hyun), sits down with a young couple (Go Kyung-pyo)? A woman who saw him in the eye and trusted his judgement, did the question of his innocence put an end to his growing temptation? "Decisions to Abandon" look to archeologists of old like the pages of their original paperback However, Park sings even at the highest convention. The story he creates with Jeong Seo-kyung has a beautiful and economical flow, moving from scene to scene in a charming way. Chronological deviations often seem to be an expression of the researcher's wandering mind. the beach
This popular ingredient has palm under the skin. This should come as no surprise to anyone who follows Parks; It has already emerged as a mystery romance with 2016's "Handmaiden", whose twists and interactions failed to hide its love story appeal.
"Sacrifice decision" sharply lowers the temperature; Obviously, emotional chemistry is more beneficial than anyone else. However, there is a cat-and-mouse tension in the way Seo-rae and Hae-jun circle around each other, as the two betray each other and threaten to chase each other, calling their dance into question. Much of the compelling charge of his scenes comes from the ambiguity of Tang's performance, perhaps more relevant since his terrifying debut in Ang Lee's "Last, Beware." For us, Hye-joon's uncertainty and original black vampirism never overlap.
The "decision to leave" is less simple than it seems at first glance. This is one of Park's specialties: He likes to change our expectations about the story we're watching. Here, it's the jumps in time, the shift in location, and the refusal of a proper goodbye that take the film's conflict (and central relationship) to new heights. Is anyone pulling a psychological rug? The explosive revelations expected of Park for the final act are no less disturbing than those about the obsessive nature, the obsession with justice, behind the film's detectives, the criminals they hunt, or both. Hae-joon, with the twins becoming an extension of her curiosity, does not have a monopoly on such madness. It is a two-way street that leads to a fatal outcome with the "decision to quit".
For Park Chan-wook fans, all of this perhaps misses the most important core element of his guts, the outrageous rage of his past: the sheer villainy that defined his once terrifying output. But watching 'The Decision to Live' it's clearer than ever that there's more to talent than courage or courage of conviction. If anything, it's heartwarming to see Park slowly get rid of those bad boys staring at me. A succession of surprising film choices reveals the cultural and ideological tensions underlying the work of film politics. No, "magic" doesn't do it justice. It's almost Hitchcockian.
DECISION TO LEAVE is now playing in select theaters and will expand to Texas theaters on Friday, October 21 .
