Deciding to leave the review: Oldboys Park Chan-wook is obsessed with obsession

Back in 2006, if you had asked a cinephile what Park Chan-wook’s business as a filmmaker was, the answer would have been nice and simple: “He’s the Korean revenge movie guy.” Park’s “Revenge Trilogy” – the independent but likeable dark thrillers Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, old boyand Lady revenge – crossed international borders at a time when America was less likely to field breakout hits from other countries than it is today. Twisty plot, intense violence and breathtaking action sequences like old boyHis famous “Hammer and a Floor” fight helped put Park’s name on the map, but those three films (not his first, but his most famous at the time) also placed him as a director with very specific interests and tastes.

Park has been harder to pin down since. His 2009 horror film thirst is a dark vampire love story with more than a touch of devious comedy. Park’s English-language debut heater is an odd misfire that pits Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode and Nicole Kidman against one another in a sort of lush parlor psychodrama that balances horror story and historical play. Park got involved in espionage operations The little drummer girlromantic comedy with I’m a cyborg, but that’s OKand literary-historical crime thrillers The maid. And his newest, the flawlessly crafted one decision to gois both a police procedure and a love story, the kind of film that easily drifts from one genre to another, only fully landing in the final devastating moments.

decision to go clarifies a specific agenda for Park’s very different filmography: he is a man obsessed with obsession. Again and again his protagonists have a compulsive idea in their heads, which they then doggedly pursue, no matter what it costs them. And it often costs them everything. in the old boy, it’s a man obsessed with finding out who locked him in a makeshift cell for 15 years and then dumped him on the street with no explanation. in the thirst, it’s a vampire bent on self-destruction. In his love stories, people become obsessed with each other in a way that tears them from their old ways to new ones. And in decision to go It’s a man obsessed with solving a murder, even if it destroys him and the woman he loves.

From the start, the film portrays policeman Hae-jun (Park Hae-il, from Bong Joon-ho’s memories of murder) as a man who doesn’t know how to exist outside of his job. He lives in town on weekdays and visits his wife on weekends for decent sex and low-key friendly time together, but he always seems like his mind is elsewhere, especially at night when insomnia stalks him. It takes a while before Park and co-writer Jeong Seo-kyeong reveal exactly where his thoughts go in the dark.

When Hae-jun is called to an apparent accidental death, he meets Seo-rae, the dead man’s soft-spoken widow (lust, cautionby Tang Wei). He cautiously explores the idea that she may have staged a particularly clever, well-staged murder. At the same time, he becomes gently possessed by her. The two maintain a cautious, non-physical relationship — Park said one of his main inspirations for the film was David Lean’s 1945 melodrama brief encounter, about two married people having an emotional affair that never gets a chance to go beyond kisses. In the process, however, Seo-rae begins to slip beneath Hae-jun’s carefully crafted shell, revealing the obsessions he reveals to no one.

decision to go takes some great narrative turns, but they never feel like the kind of surprise! Plot! turns! that make the audience gasp and try to catch up. It’s a slow burn movie, more like a Wong Kar-wai romance in pacing (In the mood for love

comes to mind a lot in this film) than in Park’s early pot-boiler thrillers. Running at 138 minutes, it is intended for patient viewers who want to linger in the quiet spaces that emerge between detective and suspect and ponder each new piece of murder evidence as it emerges. It’s a particularly rich take on a crime thriller, but it still follows form, with one clue build ing on the other as Hae-jun’s suspicions grow together.

decision to go eventually to the shocking extremes Park is known for, but first it courts an audience that enjoys meticulous craftsmanship and elegant world-building. Hae-jun learns early on that Seo-rae is from China; When meeting new people, she apologizes for her “inadequate” Korean, though the subtitles never suggest that she speaks clumsily. But when she’s sure she wants to be understood, she speaks into a translator app on her phone and stares at Hae-jun as the device explains things to him in frank but poetic language. Seo-rae spends her free time looking after elderly women in their homes, which Hae-jun ends up doing just as well as following in their footsteps. That leads him to the classic Korean song “Crap”, what defines his relationship to Seo Rae. The film keeps coming back to the idea that Hae-jun carefully tailored his clothes to add extra pockets filled with whatever a person might need – something both his wife and Seo-rae casually take advantage of .

All of these little grace notes feel like distractions for the film until they reappear often enough to become clear as defining traits, ways of understanding who these two people are. They both hide a lot from the world and from each other, including their feelings for each other. But Park and Jeong let their marks be revealed through side details, making both characters perceptive and concise enough to translate what those details mean. At first, decision to go may not seem like the kind of powerless fantasy romance that builds fandoms. But as these small character perspectives gradually build into a larger portrait, it becomes clear that this is a very different kind of fantasy, about people who care enough — and can see clearly enough — to fully understand one another, even if they rarely verbalize this understanding.

That’s not all Park thinks about decision to go, which eventually uncovers a second crime thriller that further complicates the leads’ romance before coming to a stunning ending. But while the procedural story takes up quite a bit of screen time, the emotional story is the center of the film and the one that will likely stick with audiences the longest and most clearly. As a story, it lacks the panache and dynamism of his early action films. A portrait of obsession and regret, it’s remarkably refined and satisfying. Park still deals with obsession, driving anger and suppressed sadness – all the things that bothered him as a younger filmmaker. He’s expressing those interests differently now, with gentle conversations in memorable places rather than with the blunt point of a hammer.

decision to goSouth Korea’s 2022 submission for the Best International Feature Film Oscar category will begin in limited theatrical releases in the US on October 14, with a broader rollout beginning October 21.