Vera's View: Decision to Leave (Film Review)

Our new film critic Vera Wang is taking on the latest and most buzzed-about movie titles to hit the big and small screens. Check out her take on Decision to Leave.
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Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, The Handmaiden, JSA. Not one to disappoint, the creation of Decision to Leave is only the latest in Park Chan-Wook's masterful filmography. Here, we follow the inception and aftermath of a murder investigation, during which straight-laced detective Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) begins developing feelings for the victim's mysterious wife, Seo Rae (Tang Wei), leading him to stray from his loyalties to both duty and marriage. 

To put it simply, the first half is nothing short of brilliant- it's tight, concise, and incredibly intelligent. Snappy and direct, the script wastes no time beating around the bush with elusive, abstract lines about love and death, opting instead for simplicity and unpretentiousness. The sequences have a clear-cut goal- something pertinent Park wants you to learn about the characters, or the mystery, and this goal is executed with the most ruthless of efficiencies. Hae-jun is effectively the audience insert, experiencing the steps of the investigation exactly as we do, and it's through the moments of revelation where Park Hae-il's acting shines through, where his mannerisms alone are enough for the audience to reach the same conclusions he does, with no exposition required. 

In the introduction to the second half, however, Park Chan-Wook unfortunately pulls his punches and falls short of the expectations he created in Acts One and Two. Where the direction was once laser-focused and clinical (though not passionless), it now begins to flounder with the establishment of the new plotline. The sloppy transition between the greatly contrasting halves feels like splicing two wildly different movies together- one serious psychological murder mystery, and one Jessica Chastain feminist spy movie. It's not inept, in any sense of the word, just disappointing considering the expertly executed first half. No matter- the script picks itself back up and regains its footing, this time to deliver a digestible, suspenseful, and poignant conclusion. The ending itself is fulfilling intellectually, because it provides a clean wrap-up to the themes foreshadowed by scenes before, but is slightly empty emotionally, as the viewer is left hanging by its abruptness and destruction of hope. Let's just say that it's a triumph of logic, and a loss for the romantics. 

Hand-in-hand with the masterful direction is its equally masterful soundtrack, of which frequent collaborator Jo Yeong-wook renders one of the most versatile I've ever heard; it manages to deliver a range of melodies at times whimsical, plucky, romantic, and at times melodramatic, sinister, and despairing. 

True-to-form, Park has crafted the perfect balance of mystery and romance, tension, and hopefulness; we desperately pray for Seo Rae to be innocent, because the romantic chemistry between the leading couple is infectiously radiant, but they seem to be at once both the best and worst things to happen in each other's lives, and all that's left to do is be left in true suspense, expectant and suspicious. Not enough can be said about Park Hae-il and Tang Wei's captivating performances as hopeless admirer and alluring femme fatale, because like most other aspects of the production, they're SPOT ON. Not a thing out of place, not a thing too excessive nor negligent. It's a profoundly purposeful film, where time flies by, and definitely because you're having fun.


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