MAKE THE DECISION TO SEE DECISION TO LEAVE

Decision To Leave sees Park Chan-wook reassert himself as the leading Korean director and more, he reminds everyone that he is in the upper echelons of directors, full stop. It’s a film that channels Neo-Noir, Police Procedural and Melodrama to mesmerising effect, oh, and it looks amazing.

The performances from the two leads Tang Wei and Park Hae-il are quietly intoxicating and a counterpoint to the drama and violence on the surface. Each scene is composed in such a way as to make you want to linger and absorb the atmosphere. The enigmatic nature of the story leaves us with questions and conclusions we aren’t sure of.

It’s a beautiful film which showcases Kim Ji-yong’s cinematography to full effect in both landscape and domestic tableau. It leaves you feeling satisfied with the experience yet unsure of the denouement. It’s been compared to Vertigo, and if it has any similarities with Hitchcock’s masterpiece it’s in the way it makes one evaluate the meaning of obsession and how it can manipulate us, all of us.