Shot by Shot Reviews of Film and TV

Murder mysteries draw us in with the puzzle, and 2022 saw Decision to Leave employ a couple of decent puzzles, though they are not at the heart of the story which is what makes the film shine. To call it a murder mystery would be a disservice. It is that, but also a great deal more. Some movies are dishes, and some are a meal. There is nothing wrong with either. You are sometimes in the mood for one over the other. And Decision to Leave is a meal. Take it or leave it.

Detective Hae-joon, played by a fresh with quirky energy Park Hae-il, is an obsessive. Which helps him in solving the majority of his cases. And so when he is assigned the straightforward death of a climber fallen to his death, Det Hae-joon’s unique approach tells him that something here is not right. He questions the victim’s widow, Song Seo-rae, played by an at-times warm as a sunny day at the beach, at-times cold as a foggy morning in the mountains, Tang Wei, and his ordered world begins to come apart from their very first encounter. To say any more would be to say too much, because what we have here is a meal prepared by master-chef Park Chan-wook, who was behind another unforgettable movie experience from 20 years ago, the legendary Oldboy.

I call Decision to Leave a meal, because like Oldboy, it cannot be classified as one dish. It is a murder mystery, but also equal parts a romance, and no ordinary romance at that, but one filled with intrigue, sprinkled with some genuinely humorous moments.

Park Chan-wook has a wide vocabulary to his technique and he employs almost every trick in his arsenal in terms of framing, perspective, scene transitions. It does come across as a tad self-conscious in the first portion of the film, like a body-builder flexing his/her muscles. However, once the story finds its flow in the back and forth between Det Hae-joon and the widow, Song Seo-rae, we get swept away by the romance kindling between these two characters who are otherwise so out of place in this world. And we are glad that they’ve found one another.

A good romantic film has the power to have us meet and fall in love with strangers in the first half, then in the second feel the ecstasy of winning that sought-after happily ever after.

Jang Hae-joon plays the detective with a pitch-perfect sense of balance so when it is off we see it in his eyes. Tang Wei has one of those screen personages that hops off the screen, strolls over, takes a seat beside you and locks you in her gaze.

I cannot imagine Decision to Leave as a Hollywood film because I cannot imagine the ending working in a western context. Without saying too much, it is the bow on the whole package. It leaves you with an intense upsurge of emotions because the film made you fall so effectively for the two main characters. And perhaps the film’s lasting impression owes a debt to the deft yet unstereotypical approach with which the script and the direction handle the story. The cinematography, the editing and music complement them well.

Decision to Leave is a meal that knows what it is meant to serve and it does not betray that, all the way to the end credits where the decision has been made for you and stepping away you know that it is as it must be. Unique, intoxicating, surprising, touching, impressive. Every year needs one such murder mystery/romance. Any more and it will become a fad and lose its lustre. Any less and you would feel the void. That was 2022’s Decision to Leave. I hope you will watch it and share your thoughts with me.