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.
It’s one of the best films of the year, so after watching it, or before it rolls out to a theater near you, cue up a course in the best of Park Chan-wook’s deliciously dark and singularly satisfying oeuvre currently available to stream.
Start with his 2000 thriller “Joint Security Area,” starring Song Kang-ho (of “Parasite” fame), and available to stream for free on Tubi. Based on the novel “DMZ” by Park Sang-yeon, the film follows the investigation of a shooting within the DMZ or “demilitarized zone,” the contentious, heavily fortified border between North and South Korea.
Also on Tubi, as well as Kanopy, two installments of his “Vengeance” trilogy, 2002’s “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” and 2005’s “Lady Vengeance.” 2003’s middle installment “Oldboy” was one of Park’s first cult hits in the States, so much so that Spike Lee remade it in 2013, with Josh Brolin, to dismal returns. “Oldboy” is not currently streaming anywhere, so hit up your local video store or mark your calendars for next year, when Neon plans to release the film in theaters in celebration of its 20th anniversary. Do not watch the American remake on Netflix, for your own good.
Park and Song collaborated again on the sensual vampire priest film “Thirst,” streaming on Peacock or available to rent, and in 2013, the director made his English-language debut with the family thriller “Stoker” starring Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode and Mia Wasikowska, which is available to rent on most digital platforms. He returned to his native Korean for the 2016 erotic thriller “The Handmaiden,” an adaptation of Sarah Waters’ novel “Fingersmith,” transplanted from Victorian England to the Japanese occupation of Korea in the early 20th century. “The Handmaiden” is streaming on Prime Video.
For his first foray into TV, in 2018, Park helmed the BBC series “The Little Drummer Girl,” an espionage thrilled adapted from the John Le Carre novel, starring Florence Pugh, Alexander Skarsgaard and Michael Shannon, and streaming on AMC+. He is currently at work prepping a series for HBO starring Robert Downey Jr., “The Sympathizer,” an adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, so keep an eye out for that next year.
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