Park Chan Wook is a magician.ย
With sleight of hand in every frame, he trains our eyes on what he wants us to see. The trickery goes down right in front of us. But weโre distracted.
His newest film โDecision to Leaveโ is billed by the director as a romantic comedy and detective drama. Even in describing its genre in that way, Park throws us for a loop. Thereโs so much Park wants us to see, expect and feel when something much different is going on.
The story goes: a detective investigates a manโs death from falling off a cliff. The wife is the prime suspect. Sheโs beautiful. Sheโs alluring. The detective canโt help but get emotionally involved with the woman heโs investigating.
Itโs a classic noir set up that unravels in a not so classic way. Itโs a movie thatโs success relies on subverting what weโre accustomed to. We must be enraptured by Parkโs magic.
โDecision to Leaveโ is not one of Parkโs most magical films. Some of his misdirections are misdirected. Instead of sustaining the deception they snap us out of the illusion. There are long winded and downright goofy scenes.
Itโs a fine film that any fan of noir or Park should enjoy. But after the six year wait from his last feature โThe Handmaiden,โ which is greatest work (arguable neck and neck with โOldboyโ), โDecision to Leaveโ is a bit of a let down. In the โThe Handmaidenโ we witnessed a totally engrossing performance from a master magician without a second diffusing the tension or withdrawing our intrigue at the mystery at hand. The same cannot be said for his latest effort.