ENG Decision to Leave

Park Chan-wook wowed the critics and the audiences alike at Cannes earlier this year with this intricately plotted and stunningly well-acted film noir-slash-romance starring Tang Wei as Seo-rae, a woman with more than one secret, and Park Hae-il as Hae-joon the (married) ace detective who falls for her while investigating her husband’s suspicious rock-climbing death. Director Park’s effortless mise-en scene is a wonder to behold, as is his integration of smartphones and other modern technologies into the themes and plot turns, which come thick and fast. Marvellous! ‘A sensational black-widow noir romance, featuring a glorious leading turn from the Chinese star Tang Wei, who has bettered her iconic performance in Ang Lee’s 2007 spy drama “Lust, Caution”. She is effortlessly charismatic and (that overworked word) mesmeric; sexual but reserved, strong, capable, intimidatingly smart but bearing a poignant and unacknowledged emotional wound. And the intelligence and live-wire energy she brings to her relationship with the film’s leading man, Park Hae-il, is a marvel… It’s a gorgeously and grippingly made picture and Tang Wei is magnificent.’—Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian