Decision to Leave @ SIFF & NWFF
Neo-noir at its finest đŠ
Published October 24, 2022

We shouldnât give the Cannes Film Festival all the credenceâthe event itself is invitation-only and lots of the hubbub (including a strict dress code) often overshadows that itâs a film festivalâbut Iâve always appreciated their ability to spread the love around when it comes to awards. Just in the past decade, their Best Director prizes have gone to a solid and international assortment of filmmakers, such as:
- Nicholas Winding Refn (Danish, Drive)
- Olivier Assayas (French, Personal Shopper)
- Sofia Coppola (American, The Beguiled)
- Carlos Reygadas (Mexican, Post Tenebras Lux)
- Hou Hsiao-Hsien (Taiwanese, The Assassin)
This year was no exception when Park Chan-wook, who directed/cowrote Decision to Leave, became only the second South Korean to snag the Best Director prize. Itâs not his first Cannes rodeo: He likely wouldâve received the Palme dâOr almost 20 years ago with the intense, horrifying, and bleakly funny Oldboy if Fahrenheit 9/11 hadnât also been in the running that year, so he settled for the Grand Prix.
Park is also beloved for such work as The Handmaiden (2016), Thirst (2009), and the other two-thirds of his âVengeance Trilogyâ (2002âs Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, 2005âs Sympathy for Lady Vengeance), plus the 2018 BBC series The Little Drummer Girl. So arthouse and discerning genre audiences are frothing at the mouth for his latest release, a neo-noir that sets a detective (Memories of Murderâs Park Hae-il) and a widow (Lust, Cautionâs Tang Wei) on a crash course toward ruin when her husband falls (or is he pushed?) off a cliff.
Lies are told, suspicions are had, critics and fans will make lots of allusions to Hitchcock and other masters of suspense, and youâll leave the theatre roughly two and a half hours later having witnessed a director in full control of their craft. Sometimes Cannes gets it right.
đž: SIFF
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