- Asian Masters Night
DECISION TO LEAVE
Synopsis
A man lies dead at the foot of a mountain, and detective Hae-jun (Park Hae-il), who suffers from insomnia, takes on the case. The widow Seo-rae (Tang Wei), an immigrant from China, seems to know more than she says – and the longer Hae-jun observes and questions her, the less the case matters to him. Suspicion turns into fascination, investigation into a relationship neither of them names. When he finds evidence that incriminates her, he chooses to overlook it. Thirteen months later, Seo-rae’s new husband dies, and Hae-jun stands before her again. “Decision to Leave” by Park Chan-wook (South Korea, 2022) is a crime film in which the question of who did it gives way to the question of what two people do to one another.
South Korean director Park Chan-wook directs with restraint: a neo-noir of glances, fog, mountain and sea, whose sensuality and menace run beneath a calm surface. He wrote the screenplay with Chung Seo-kyung. In Cannes in 2022, Park received the award for best director – his third prize there, after the Grand Prix for “Oldboy” and the Jury Prize for “Thirst”. South Korea submitted the film for the Oscar race. “Decision to Leave” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2022 in the Asian Masters Night section.
Festival
Shown at the 2022 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.
