Review: Decision to Leave (2022)

Here’s one from Korean director Park Chan-Wook, who you might know as the man behind Oldboy and the rest of the Vengeance Trilogy. His most recent outing here might not be as brutal as some of that, but it caught my eye nonetheless—it’s a noir-flavored tale of dubious romance with Decision to Leave.

Our lead here is Park Hae-Jil as insomniac detective Hae-Jun, investigating a seeming suicide that might be just more. His delving brings him into contact with the widow of the deceased, Chinese migrant Song (Tang Wei), a woman of mysterious past with whom Hae-Jun starts to form what may be a mutual infatuation. Of course, it becomes apparent that Song’s motives may not be as clear as they seem—and Hae-Jun comes to find that his sense of duty and his obsession with her might soon be at odds. 

There’s a strong theme of voyeurism and projection that, especially earlier on as Hae-Jun starts looking a bit too closely in on Song, reminds me a little of Hitchcock’s Rear Window. Nobody here can be called morally clean, and it’s that ambiguity that keeps things interesting through the end—with there being a reason behind what everyone does here, even if those reasons may not be easy to pin down for some here. Some of it, I think, touches a little on South Korean society and its insularism, which plays a part in some of the backdrop here. 

The visuals are solidly done too—there’s some great shots of Korean mountainside and city vistas, with a rather grungy feel removed from the neon expanses of Seoul. The camerawork itself ties into the themes above, with lots of shots taking place from the perspective of the inside of phone screens, while others for a moment delve into the imagination and projection of the characters themselves. 

And there’s of course Chan-Wook’s darker sensibility at hand—just when you think things may have reached a crescendo, there seems to be one more turn to let the obsessions at play here dive deeper. 

Though a bit of a slow burn at first, there’s enough style and drama here to keep things going up until the end—even if, shall we say, not everything gets wrapped up. Then again, that uncertain note is probably just the right sort for this one—it may not go all out like the director’s previous offerings, but it’s not without intensity of its own…