Decision To Leave is a beautiful neo-noir/thriller/romance/mystery, following detective Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) as he investigates the unexplained death of a man who fell off a mountain summit. Hae-joon meets Seo-rae (Tang Wei), the mountain man’s widow, and develops an interest in her that quickly steps beyond the realm of ‘police professionalism.’ 

The film dances around tensions between possibility and regret, investigator and suspect, good and bad. It is an incredibly human film. And so sexy, in a way that is largely unspoken, existing through lingering glances and lip balm application. Think the planetarium scene in Manhattan (1979), or any scene at all from In The Mood For Love (2000)*.

Decision To Leave seems somewhat more subdued than Park Chan-wook’s earlier work. There is a curious lack of the teeth pulling and inappropriate sea-life so often present in his previous films. However, the emphasis on pain as emotional as opposed to physical gives the film an uncomfortable, bittersweet quality that can leave you (well, left me) with an ache that lingers for days.

If you want to indulge in beautiful cinematography, gradually unfurling mystery, the could-have-beens, and the melancholy, go decide to leave your house and…you know where this is going. 

Decision To Leave is now screening at Watershed until at least Thu 27 Oct. 

*Films get wildly inaccurately compared to In The Mood For Love a lot, but with this one…similar vibe. Couldn’t not. Sorry.