Cannes 2022, remote notes

[Chris Knipp]

MAY 23, CANNES DAY 7 COMPETITION PREMIERES: DECISION TO LEAVE, CRIMES OF THE FUTURE, AND TORI AND LOKITA.


PARK HAE-IL AND TANG WEI IN DECISION TO LEAVE

DECISION TO LEAVE (Park Chan-wook)
Cannes. In Competition. It's Peter Bradshaw's second Cannes 2022 5/5 stars film, which "keeps the viewer off balance at every turn," he says in his rave Guardian review. Park rocked Cannes with his lurid revenge drama OLDBOY in 2004 (I can even remember reading Anthony Lane's New Yorker review before seeing it). His last feature was HANDMAIDEN (2016), which I waited in line to see in Paris. There was a SNOWPIERCER TV series 2020-2022. DECISION TO LEAVE begins with a police investigation of a death in the mountains. But this one is a "police procedural romance." Bradshaw notes the "deliciously manipulative plot twists," but also "tension and intrigue," "grandstanding emotional confrontations," and (not least) "ingenious use of mobile phone technology" which often messes up modern day thrillers. The Chinese star Tang Wei (of Ang Lee's LUST, CAUTION) is "magnificent" as a murder suspect unconcerned over her husband's death, whom the married, insomniac police detective (Park Hae-il) gradually falls in love with. David Rooney's Hollywood Reporter review mentions Douglas Sirk, Hitchcock, and Almodóvar as sources or parallels. Rooney compliment's Park's later-stage career simultaneous mastery of complex plot, rich characters, and set designs as ingenious as they are aesthetically pleasing. David Erlich in IndieWire calls this "the most romantic movie of the year." The Variety review notes the "wildly satisfying ending" to this "scintillating work of genre art." This clearly looks like one of this year's most admired and enjoyed Competition films (it will go to the top of the Jury Grid).

DECISION TO LEAVE TRAILER (With English subs..)