Korea Deconstructed

Park Chan Wook: Genius of Korean Cinema

May 14, 2024

02:17:47

Park Chan-wook is a master of movie making. And he's seemingly getting better with age. Leaving the sex and violence of previous hits such as Oldboy, JSA, and The Handmaiden behind him, Decision to Leave / 헤어질 결심 (2022) explores the relationship between a Korean man and a Chinese woman, completely incompatible, seemingly madly in love, and destined to destroy each other. These two roles are played expertly by Tang Wei and Park Hae-il.

"The moment you said you loved me, your love ended. And the moment your love ended, my love began.”

The movie is a piece of art: a poem. It encourages you to watch it multiple times, with each viewing providing greater insight into the layers constructed: through sound, language, visuals, and mis-en-scene.

I sat down with two Korean women, Jimin and Yunsuh, and a Chinese woman, Jessie, to explore this movie from a variety of perspectives: art, beauty, gender, love, and morality. Each of them provided views and insights I would never have found myself. And yet, it still feels like there is so much that went unsaid.

Discussion Outline

0:00 First Impressions

13:40 Park Chan-wook and Gender

18:46 Park Chan-wook’s Style

25:45 Is Decision to Leave Romantic?

34:58 Asian Vibes: The Mountains and the Sea

43:06 Tang Wei

1:08:25 Poetry, Yeokbek, and McGuffins

1:19:30 The Ending of the Movie

1:38:50 Haejoon: The Male Lead

1:59:52 Park Chan Wook and the Oscars

2:08:00 A movie, a Book, a Song