June 11, 2023

Day: 11, Movie: 11

I have been waiting anxiously to watch this Korean made film for the June Swoon 2. Decision to Leave was a popular hit of the international films last year, but I have been pushing it off because of the length. The film was almost 2 hours and 20 minutes, which was long for a film that required reading.

Before I go on about the movie, I have to complain about the captions. The English translation was small on the screen and some of the dialogue went too fast. It was difficult to keep up with the flow of the story without being 100% sure what they just said. I have said that in previous subtitled films, you forget that you are reading and just fall into the story, but this time the reading was more difficult at times that it never truly allowed me to lose myself in the story.

That is not necessarily a flaw of the film as much as it was Vudu and its presentation. I will not hold that against Decision to Leave, but there is no doubt that it affected my viewing pleasure.

According to IMDB, “From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae (Tang Wei). But as he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire.”

I did enjoy this movie with its mystery at its core. Exactly how much of a role had Seo-rae played in her husband’s demise or was it actually just suicide? The film does a great job of keeping the story going as you are never sure what the truth is.

The relationship between Hae-joon and Seo-rae felt wrong for most of this movie as you could never be sure if she were playing him or if she was just a victim of the situation. This relationship caused Hae-joon’s marriage to crumble, although there are some hints in the movie that implied that Hae-joon was already not very happy with the path of his life.

Reason to Leave was directed by Park Chan-wook, who also directed the iconic film Oldboy. Park Chan-wook created a beautiful look to the film and brought a great deal of magic to the love story.

Decision to Leave tells a solid romantic story with touches of tragedy mixed in. The performances are all really strong and the film looks lovely. It is a touch long, but it takes its time telling the story effectively.