A detective investigating a man's death in the mountains meets the dead man's mysterious wife in the course of his dogged sleuthing.
Finally, the master Park Chan-wook is back since his last feature film The Handmaiden in 2016. A time such as that should be declared a holiday. For Decision to Leave, Chan-wook earned himself the prize for best director at Cannes 2022. It sets itself apart from his earlier works slightly because in the middle of this crime drama, there's somewhat of a love story going on, and though of course it doesn't fully commit to that genre I've seen it being labeled as a romantic mystery. What's still present is the slick and fascinating editing that's always prevalent in Chan-wook's films, making every scene way more interesting than any other director would have.
Whatever the genres involved it's a great film with multiple plot twists during its involving story. Chan-wook also decided to use Chinese actress Tang Wei, known from Long Day's Journey Into Night (2018) and Lust, Caution (2007) as the leading lady, and she's an absolute force.
Genre: Crime/Drama/Mystery. 2h 18min.
