South Korean master auteur Park Chan-wook has a new film, “Decision to Leave,” hitting theaters this Friday, the first film in his career selected as the South Korean submission for the Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards. Park has gained a cult following across the globe for his highly stylized work often marked by dark themes, strange humor and bloody violence, particularly the “Vengeance” trilogy, his vampire priest film “Thirst,” and the critically lauded romantic period piece “The Handmaiden.”
“Decision to Leave” is one of Park’s sleekest, and most sophisticated films yet: an elegant, Hitchcockian modern noir and murder mystery. Park Hae-il, who appeared in another classic South Korean noir, Bong Joon Ho’s “Memories of Murder” (streaming on Hulu), stars in “Decision to Leave” as Hae-jun, a detective who becomes obsessed with Seo-rae, the widow of his latest murder victim, played dazzlingly by Chinese actress Tang Wei.
In its themes and style, the film pays tribute to the work of Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, whose “Vertigo” inspired Park, as a young film student and critic, to make his own films. Hitch’s influence can be seen in the way that Park approaches symbolism, subjectivity and suspense in “Decision to Leave,” as well as the romantic obsession that drives the plot, all rendered delicately, even playfully, with his uniquely curious touch.
