'Old Boy' Park Chan-wook is back in Cannes race after six-year hiatus
The Hindu
Park, whose 2004 Cannes Grand Prix winner ‘Old Boy’ went a long way in opening the sluice gates for Korean filmmakers on the French Riviera, premiered his latest film, ‘Decision to Leave’
The internationally-feted South Korean director Park Chan-wook has his hat in the 2022 Cannes Competition ring with a film that, in many ways, marks a significant departure in style and substance from his previous work.
Park, whose 2004 Cannes Grand Prix winner "Old Boy" went a long way in opening the sluice gates for Korean filmmakers on the French Riviera and culminated in Bong Joon-ho's famous Palme d'Or win triumph with "Parasite", premiered his latest film, "Decision to Leave", here on Monday.
He does not accept that "Decision to Leave", which isn't as erotic as his 2016 Competition title "The Handmaiden" nor as violent as "Old Boy", is all that different from the other films that make up his celebrated oeuvre.
"This question would not have arisen at all had this been a film by some other director," he says. "I met distributors from across the world here yesterday and some of them suggested that 'Decision to Leave' marks a new development in my career." "I contradicted them. I certainly wanted to make a film for adults. But a film for adults does not necessarily mean an erotic or graphically violent film," asserts Park.
"Decision to Leave" has been enthusiastically received here. It is likely to continue to be in Palme d'Or reckoning as the 75th Cannes Film Festival begins to wind down and the Vincent Lindon-led jury sits down to pick the eventual winners. Park is, of course, no stranger to prizes in Cannes. His 2009 film "Thirst" won a Jury Prize here.
"Decision to Leave" focuses on a relationship that blossoms between a straight-laced and committed Busan detective (played by Park Hae-il) and a Chinese woman suspected of the murder of her Korean husband, who falls to his death from a mountain. The role of the Chinese woman is essayed by Tang Wei, the star of Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution".
The striking richness and depth of Park Chan-wook's visual palette is intact in his new film, which establishes the contrast between a mountain and a sea as a reflection of the differences that separate the policeman and the murder suspect.
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