Thanks for the review. I adored this movie. It was such a pleasure to see this on the big screen. The end is indeed just heartbreaking. I hope the Academy gives this the Parasite treatment, but nominates the actors as well. They deserve it.
this movie DESERVES multiple rewatches, there's an entire 2nd level of appreciation with regards to its metatextuality, and how that ties into how absolutely tragic it is! and I haven't seen that discussed outside of Korean critics and audiences 😞
As a Korean, wanted to share a couple of things regarding Tang Wei's awesome performance and how Park Chan Wook did a great job directing her: 1. Tang Wei doesn't actually know much Korean in real life but I was completely fooled into thinking she had learned the language. Her real Korean is limited to basic greetings. 2. There is a time jump in the middle and I noticed an improvement in Tang Wei's Korean dialog - much more fluid and natural in how she says the lines. Very subtle but a clear transition from "beginner Korean" to "intermediate Korean" as one would improve their language abilities during that time.
I need to rewatch this one. The first time there was so much information thrown at me, I couldn't quite make sense of it all... And the ending didn't affect me as it did you... So I'm interested to see if my thoughts and feelings change on a second viewing.
Ditto I had the same experience...I need to watch it again. I felt at the end things escalated very quickly compared to the beginning and middle, which were much slower. I felt like my brain was playing catch-up at the end trying to understand why things played out the way they did!
This movie was so intriguing. It portrays itself at first a crime/detective movie but what it really was, was a love story. There were so many comparison between the main character and his wife vs the main character and the Chinese woman. Everyone is against cheating and infidelity, but this film showed true love through infidelity. Examples... the wife not knowing where he keeps things in his pockets, so she pats him down for things. Whereas the Chinese lady knows exactly where he keeps things in his pockets (the altoids, chapstick, etc.). Also, the main character and his wife making it a duty to have sex at least once a week. But still lack connection in the end. Whereas the main character and the Chinese lady had so much connection and the pennacle of their physical intimacy was a simple kiss. Great review. I'll definitely be releasing my own review soon. Their love for each other were true, but because it was through infidelity and would be looked down on, their love was like Romeo and Juliet. They have to meet in secret, and his way of "I love you" itself was through a code because he himself knows that it is wrong to love her. Against, everyone is against infidelity and dishonesty, but you were left broken hearted in the end.
First, I knew there's gonna be a "Stoker" shoutout. Team Stoker! Second, if Park Chan-wook doesn't get Oscar recognition, I will start a curse rumor. Park is cursed because he did not return Bong Joon-ho's DVD copy of "Medium Cool." Third, Lee Byung-hun was in talks to star in "Decision to Leave" but talks failed and the role went to Park Hae-il. While I love Lee, Park seems a better fit as Detective Hae Joon. Lastly, DJ Kim Shin-young is delightful as the detective's sidekick.
I think you missed mentioning about the beautiful OST music. Director Park was a huge fan of the singers of this movie ost "The fog". The Korean song called "The fog" was a huge hit song in Korea in 1970s. The singer was Jung Hoonhee. She was like a Diana Ross in Korea. Director Park wanted to Jung Hoonhee and Song Changsick to record this song as duet again only for this movie. So the Director Park almost begged them to record this song again and finally they did this ost for his film Decision to leave. Song Changsick is also very legendary icon singer in Korea. He's like a Bob dylan in Korea in 1970s. Here is the theme song of Decision to Leave. ua-cam.com/video/adOfY28Av-E/v-deo.html
Just caught this last night, and if it wasn't perhaps as "vivid" as previous Park Chan-wook masterpieces, it was no less mesmeric: "In The Mood for Love" meets "Vertigo" on, well, Park Chan-wook's dime. The technological aspects were invaluable. Both Park Hae-il and Tang Wei were beyond praise, and the ending was not to be believed. Instantly one of my favorite films not just of 2022 but of many a year. Thanks for summing it up so beautifully. without giving anything away.
Wow finally able to see this; I found it funnier than having 'isolated moments' of humor--I was laughing throughout, much more than I do at most comedies. The clever cinematography led to more 'reveal' gags than I could count.
I saw this film last week. It is without a doubt one of the best films of the year. I loooooved how the director decided to edit the film intercutting between both protagonists. Just wow. Thank u for your review, hope it gets more people to see the film
Alonsonis right, he's a legendary director, a new movie from him a an event for me. He said that he didn't want to make sex scenes because he wanted this to be more accessible, and yet it works so much here. I absolutely loved this movie, Park Chan wook is a master of his craft.
I was very fortunate to watch it a couple months ago. It’s great. If I were to run the Oscars, Tang Wei would be my Best Actress winner (although I've yet to see Blanchett in Tár). Incredible direction from Park Chan-wook. It also has an incredible score, stellar cinematography, and very slick editing. I agree that the ending is devastating. That alone is preventing me from giving it a perfect score, but it will end up being on my Top 10 list by the end of the year.
The Little Drummer Girl adaptation is really good and Florence Pugh is fantastic (as always)... This movie is really amazing. I only have watched it once but wanted to watch it again in case I miss something...
Great review, this is one of the most beautiful films I've seen from a visual standpoint. Would you guys review TV shows, I'll definitely recommend The Bear (~ 20 mins an episode)
Thanks, we review a lot of TV shows on our Patreon. Currently we're doing Andor and The Handmaid's Tale, but we've heard The Bear is great: www.patreon.com/bfastallday
Y'all's are so great with the intro of, "if you haven't seen this and want to, don't watch this review." That's what I did. Very happy to go in cold and know nothing. I never watch a review if you guys recommend against it, certainly knowing nothing makes a film better IMO. I hope we get a spoiler review from you two. I want to ask a certain question. I won't do that, b/c it'd give someone prior knowledge of the story, but a spoiler review would help me b/c my friends and family aren't itching to watch the new PCW film. It's not the Handmaiden, but that's a difficult film to top, and this is really so good in so many ways. I have a film I'd like to compare it to, but that'd be a spoiler. Subs over dubs BTW. IYKYK.
Watched it at Vancouver international film festival! edit :: maybe I should watch the entire review before commenting lol: my screening laughed a lot during this. There were scenes where my theatre burst out laughing and I thought "oh I suppose that was a comedic scene"
Nice. Might have to rewatch The Handmaiden and Stoker before am able to see this. I don't even know what Mubi is but I'll find out when it comes out on there.
I got the seven day Mubi trial, watched this movie and cancelled Mubi today!! Haha! Excellent movie, but it's sort of different stylistically from his other films (which I love) so I had to think about it and watch again. It's amazing. The two leads are stellar. One of Park's strange narrative devices didn't necessarily work for me, but that's a small complaint. It's awesome.
The Little Drummer Girl was amazing. Florence Pugh is the lead! You guys should watch it. Decision to Leave is definitely a film I need to watch more than once, there’s so much to take in and understand. I think it can only get better on a second viewing. And I want to hear the score again. 8/10
I have three movies to see this weekend and just two days. Hmmm. I might have to make this one of them since this limited run will probably be all it gets theatrically. "The Banshees of Inisherin" may have to wait a week as its platforming up and ain't going anywhere for at least a little while. Yes, the other movie is "Black Adam". Hey, I reserved the ticket weeks ago so don't look at me like that! haha Its just so funny that on the same weekend as Black Adam I have new movies from two of my favorite directors, Mcdonagh and Park!!! It's almost as if the universe doesn't want me to see Black Adam! Hmm..
I think I'm going to listen to the universe and see the two movies I most want to see! I like superhero movies, but in truth I was never all that interested in "Black Adam", so he can wait. 😊
Wish I could say i loved this as much as previous films of his. Just did not believe the romance at the core of it (which is pretty essential to the second half of the film)
Too convoluted. No one wants to feel dumb and admit how confusing this is. But the way I see it is that it's not their fault, it's the filmmaker's fault. I couldn't make heads and tails of this. I almost decided to leave. It's definitely not Hitchcockian. Hitch's plots were always crystal clear. He once said, "An audience confused is not an audience entertained."
one feels that PCW often has so much to say n that hurts the pacing of his films. a storybook being made to fit into a 2hr visual medium. Though visually, it was awesome.
This was a movie that was so annoyingly sure it was smarter then it's audience it was annoying to watch. It was packed with misogynist signs of Asian culture (1. how does a police officer fall asleep in a female suspects house without an official inquiry. 2. how are you supposed to care about a guy cheating on his wife who when his marriage ends throws her former desire for intimacy in her face like it's a joke for the audience to laugh at...ha ha she wanted to have a loving marriage isn't that funny cause she was boring and in love with the protagonist but he deserves a higher caliber of freak...seriously wtf was this director thinking.) The ending that everyone is broken up over was predictable and well deserved for all involved to the point that I not only didn't care but would have grabbed the bucket and covered the hole myself and stamped the ground after. The only sympathetic characters in this movie are the old ladies being used by people to cover over murder and or to cause it and the Detectives wife that is trying to keep their obviously struggling marriage together up until she suspects he may have been involved in committing or covering over a murder...which he was. The director then interjects a guy in her life out of the blue to try to sully her misogynist trick #3 (see she was a bitch all along fella's don't care about her feelings care about the guy who is the star of this movie....but wait...she killed no one was there for him and wanted the best for him, she was concerned for his mental health and aside from a minor comment on how he looked was doing everything a text book devoted wife could do up to the point he revealed he was a scrub...but the movie wants you to love the "gorgeous" murderous cunt that would kill an innocent to keep her hands clean of the crime and hate the sane loving wife...seriously? ) Obviously dipshits fell for it cause I keep seeing comments about the gut punch of an ending but you people need to do a morality check this ain't Romeo and Juliet it's more like Basic Instinct. The whole movie it's the detective who was cavorting around with a suspected killer and who has through his bungling and lust cost more innocent lives. So we are to ignore all that and pine away for his love story that was in all reality just an obsession a sociopath had for him and vice versa?!? The detective himself loses all sympathy when he tosses an earnest desire his wife had back in her face for a moment clearly set up to make the audience laugh. Everyone else is in this film is either an oaf, self obsessed idiot, drunk or a murderer and or a fool cucked by one. No one is worth giving a damn about and the narrative was not intelligent enough to try to be a thriller or a mystery there was never a moment I did not know exactly what was going on and why within 2 seconds of any reveal. This film is better seen at home so you can rewind for some small details or hopefully so they can dub it with good asian american actors. Otherwise it is not worthy of anything else but an inquiry into the mental health of anyone who was tricked into thinking the para social relationship and manipulation displayed in this movie had anything to do with love. This story is worth seeing solely for the production, transitions and cinematography, the story should have been edited down a considerable amount to get to the point and should have revealed the obvious truth earlier so that we could have mulled over moral conclusions far sooner and in greater depth. The characters would have been better served if there was nuance not a clear villain or if they made the protagonist willing to delve into the villainy himself to rectify the situation (what would you do or how far would you go for love )and then maybe some new ground could be tread, again they fall for the misogynist trope of make the women crazy and the guy an upright morale lovable victim but he is so dumb here he ceases to be an innocent and becomes a total moron on numerous occasions...let me just stand at an edge of a cliff back turned to the killer and ho hum de dumb de dumb what might happen here....did he go to the same school of detective work as Inspector Gadget and Clouseau? This is a less interesting basic instinct you have to read subtitles for that has better cinematography overall and an ending written for dramatic effect that doesn't stick the landing because of obtuse unlikeable characters throughout. It is also a worse movie. Go watch that instead if you haven't seen it you will have more fun. This is the sort of movie that needs to be re-written by an AAA-class writer to remove the misogyny and written more ambiguous so you don't know if the intent of the person is sincere throughout till the end or you find out it isn't and go full on Thelma and Louis vs the world with it and show two people killing and covering it up out of a mutual obsession. This movie however did not have the balls to shit or get off the pot and suffers as a direct result of it's toe dipping insufficiency. By the end there are enough admissions made directly by characters to see there is a unremorseful trash human at the center of this "love story" and the movie never gave you enough backstory to either accept them as they are for the thrill of it all or to question their innocent nature. You are left rooting for a remorseless killer and an idiot that destroyed his marriage to help her cover up her crimes and commit new ones....why would anyone care to be emotionally attached to these scum? Let me add I am not the morality police but if you can't figure out how to make me care about shitty characters as people or to watch them get what they deserve in an interesting way like say Jamie Lannister on Game of Thrones then why am I going to watch them for 2 hours and enjoy it. This is the riddle this movie fails flatly to solve thus it's audience suffers as a result. (Overall Movie score 4) Cinematography 8 , Writing 4, Acting 8
Great camera work, and some innovative filmmaking, but let's be real here, you have two unlikable characters that do bad things to everyone around them and then to themselves as well in the end. How can we be so blinded as an audience to fall for first-touch love and forget about all the murder, unprofessionality, and deceits?
A fan of Park Chan Wook other films and this one was a letdown. Dragged on too long. Relationship between detective and the lady was not interesting at all It was beautifully shot. Some great compositions and editing. Music good to. Technical side was amazing. The story just did nothing for me
Thanks for the review. I adored this movie. It was such a pleasure to see this on the big screen. The end is indeed just heartbreaking. I hope the Academy gives this the Parasite treatment, but nominates the actors as well. They deserve it.
So glad you loved it too!
Exactly.
this movie DESERVES multiple rewatches, there's an entire 2nd level of appreciation with regards to its metatextuality, and how that ties into how absolutely tragic it is! and I haven't seen that discussed outside of Korean critics and audiences 😞
Agree, we definitely need to see it again. Thanks, Sam.
As a Korean, wanted to share a couple of things regarding Tang Wei's awesome performance and how Park Chan Wook did a great job directing her:
1. Tang Wei doesn't actually know much Korean in real life but I was completely fooled into thinking she had learned the language. Her real Korean is limited to basic greetings.
2. There is a time jump in the middle and I noticed an improvement in Tang Wei's Korean dialog - much more fluid and natural in how she says the lines. Very subtle but a clear transition from "beginner Korean" to "intermediate Korean" as one would improve their language abilities during that time.
That's so interesting, Jimmy, thanks for sharing all that!
I need to rewatch this one. The first time there was so much information thrown at me, I couldn't quite make sense of it all... And the ending didn't affect me as it did you... So I'm interested to see if my thoughts and feelings change on a second viewing.
Let us know!
Ditto I had the same experience...I need to watch it again. I felt at the end things escalated very quickly compared to the beginning and middle, which were much slower. I felt like my brain was playing catch-up at the end trying to understand why things played out the way they did!
This movie was so intriguing. It portrays itself at first a crime/detective movie but what it really was, was a love story. There were so many comparison between the main character and his wife vs the main character and the Chinese woman. Everyone is against cheating and infidelity, but this film showed true love through infidelity. Examples... the wife not knowing where he keeps things in his pockets, so she pats him down for things. Whereas the Chinese lady knows exactly where he keeps things in his pockets (the altoids, chapstick, etc.). Also, the main character and his wife making it a duty to have sex at least once a week. But still lack connection in the end. Whereas the main character and the Chinese lady had so much connection and the pennacle of their physical intimacy was a simple kiss. Great review. I'll definitely be releasing my own review soon. Their love for each other were true, but because it was through infidelity and would be looked down on, their love was like Romeo and Juliet. They have to meet in secret, and his way of "I love you" itself was through a code because he himself knows that it is wrong to love her. Against, everyone is against infidelity and dishonesty, but you were left broken hearted in the end.
It is heartbreaking, isn't it? So glad you loved this, too.
100% agreed . I Looooooved this movie. So beautiful. A masterpiece.
So glad you caught up with our review!
First, I knew there's gonna be a "Stoker" shoutout. Team Stoker!
Second, if Park Chan-wook doesn't get Oscar recognition, I will start a curse rumor. Park is cursed because he did not return Bong Joon-ho's DVD copy of "Medium Cool."
Third, Lee Byung-hun was in talks to star in "Decision to Leave" but talks failed and the role went to Park Hae-il. While I love Lee, Park seems a better fit as Detective Hae Joon.
Lastly, DJ Kim Shin-young is delightful as the detective's sidekick.
She was hilarious, good call. Thanks for all of that! Team Stoker indeed!
I think you missed mentioning about the beautiful OST music. Director Park was a huge fan of the singers of this movie ost "The fog". The Korean song called "The fog" was a huge hit song in Korea in 1970s. The singer was Jung Hoonhee. She was like a Diana Ross in Korea. Director Park wanted to Jung Hoonhee and Song Changsick to record this song as duet again only for this movie. So the Director Park almost begged them to record this song again and finally they did this ost for his film Decision to leave. Song Changsick is also very legendary icon singer in Korea. He's like a Bob dylan in Korea in 1970s. Here is the theme song of Decision to Leave. ua-cam.com/video/adOfY28Av-E/v-deo.html
The music is gorgeous, you're right. A key element.
I'm a big fan of "Joint Security Area," too.
Just caught this last night, and if it wasn't perhaps as "vivid" as previous Park Chan-wook masterpieces, it was no less mesmeric: "In The Mood for Love" meets "Vertigo" on, well, Park Chan-wook's dime. The technological aspects were invaluable. Both Park Hae-il and Tang Wei were beyond praise, and the ending was not to be believed. Instantly one of my favorite films not just of 2022 but of many a year. Thanks for summing it up so beautifully. without giving anything away.
Thanks for watching and glad you loved it too!
@@BreakfastAllDay Totally. Literally jumped into my consciousness. Haunting.
The Handmaiden was my favorite film of the past decade. I'm very excited for this!
You're gonna love it!
I felt the last 45 mins of Handmaiden was a massive gottchathon and it got abit annoying.
PCW’s LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL is pretty phenomenal. Worth a look.
The colours are WONDERFUL.
Good to know, thanks Ian!
Wow finally able to see this; I found it funnier than having 'isolated moments' of humor--I was laughing throughout, much more than I do at most comedies. The clever cinematography led to more 'reveal' gags than I could count.
I saw this film last week. It is without a doubt one of the best films of the year. I loooooved how the director decided to edit the film intercutting between both protagonists. Just wow. Thank u for your review, hope it gets more people to see the film
So glad you loved it too, thanks for watching, Ann!
Alonsonis right, he's a legendary director, a new movie from him a an event for me.
He said that he didn't want to make sex scenes because he wanted this to be more accessible, and yet it works so much here. I absolutely loved this movie, Park Chan wook is a master of his craft.
So glad you loved it too.
I was very fortunate to watch it a couple months ago. It’s great. If I were to run the Oscars, Tang Wei would be my Best Actress winner (although I've yet to see Blanchett in Tár). Incredible direction from Park Chan-wook. It also has an incredible score, stellar cinematography, and very slick editing. I agree that the ending is devastating. That alone is preventing me from giving it a perfect score, but it will end up being on my Top 10 list by the end of the year.
You will love TÁR!
@@BreakfastAllDay Just saw TÁR, and...you're right. I LOVED IT!
The Little Drummer Girl adaptation is really good and Florence Pugh is fantastic (as always)... This movie is really amazing. I only have watched it once but wanted to watch it again in case I miss something...
So good! Thanks Andrea.
Great review, this is one of the most beautiful films I've seen from a visual standpoint. Would you guys review TV shows, I'll definitely recommend The Bear (~ 20 mins an episode)
Thanks, we review a lot of TV shows on our Patreon. Currently we're doing Andor and The Handmaid's Tale, but we've heard The Bear is great: www.patreon.com/bfastallday
Y'all's are so great with the intro of, "if you haven't seen this and want to, don't watch this review."
That's what I did. Very happy to go in cold and know nothing. I never watch a review if you guys recommend against it, certainly knowing nothing makes a film better IMO.
I hope we get a spoiler review from you two. I want to ask a certain question. I won't do that, b/c it'd give someone prior knowledge of the story, but a spoiler review would help me b/c my friends and family aren't itching to watch the new PCW film.
It's not the Handmaiden, but that's a difficult film to top, and this is really so good in so many ways. I have a film I'd like to compare it to, but that'd be a spoiler.
Subs over dubs BTW. IYKYK.
Thanks for your thoughts! Maybe we can get to a spoiler discussion some day.
Watched it at Vancouver international film festival!
edit :: maybe I should watch the entire review before commenting lol: my screening laughed a lot during this. There were scenes where my theatre burst out laughing and I thought "oh I suppose that was a comedic scene"
Some parts of it were funny!
Oooh the review makes me interested to watch it. From Alonzo's description, it feels a little bit like Basic Instinct :P
Mmm, not so lurid. But tense!
Nice. Might have to rewatch The Handmaiden and Stoker before am able to see this. I don't even know what Mubi is but I'll find out when it comes out on there.
mubi.com/films/decision-to-leave
thanks so much!
I got the seven day Mubi trial, watched this movie and cancelled Mubi today!! Haha! Excellent movie, but it's sort of different stylistically from his other films (which I love) so I had to think about it and watch again. It's amazing. The two leads are stellar. One of Park's strange narrative devices didn't necessarily work for me, but that's a small complaint. It's awesome.
Glad you caught up with it!
Y’all always have the best movie reviews I hope you reach your sub goal! You deserve it! ❤
Thank you so much!
The Little Drummer Girl was amazing. Florence Pugh is the lead! You guys should watch it.
Decision to Leave is definitely a film I need to watch more than once, there’s so much to take in and understand. I think it can only get better on a second viewing. And I want to hear the score again. 8/10
For sure, and the score is incredible. Thanks for your thoughts!
Is it as good as Burning? I consider that to be the finest Korean release in recent years.
Ooh ... just about! Burning is amazing.
This movie was very good. Beautiful yet heartbreaking
A good way to phrase it.
Are you guys going to be reviewing Stars at Noon? Saw it last weekend and really loved it!
Yes, next week, thanks!
Waiting for the mubi release as no theatres near me are playing this movie
You'll have to let us know what you think.
It felt so dragged out. I didn't get the hype on it at all. The ending was great though with its power! Maybe I need a second viewing.
I have three movies to see this weekend and just two days. Hmmm. I might have to make this one of them since this limited run will probably be all it gets theatrically. "The Banshees of Inisherin" may have to wait a week as its platforming up and ain't going anywhere for at least a little while. Yes, the other movie is "Black Adam". Hey, I reserved the ticket weeks ago so don't look at me like that! haha Its just so funny that on the same weekend as Black Adam I have new movies from two of my favorite directors, Mcdonagh and Park!!! It's almost as if the universe doesn't want me to see Black Adam! Hmm..
These are good problems to have. Let us know how it goes!
I think I'm going to listen to the universe and see the two movies I most want to see! I like superhero movies, but in truth I was never all that interested in "Black Adam", so he can wait. 😊
Christy is right about Stoker.
Thank you! 🗝
@@BreakfastAllDay how can one not like a movie that features Nicole Kidman slowly losing her mind in a very fancy house?!
Ooh... can't wait. Thanks!
Hope you like it!
Could you please redo this and end with "When it comes to Decision to Leave you should make the decision to go" and wink and point at the camera?
No because we are not hacky 😆
Its a doesitmatter dunnit ? Well definitely that's a unique description.
We're very articulate around here.
Wish I could say i loved this as much as previous films of his. Just did not believe the romance at the core of it (which is pretty essential to the second half of the film)
Too convoluted. No one wants to feel dumb and admit how confusing this is. But the way I see it is that it's not their fault, it's the filmmaker's fault. I couldn't make heads and tails of this. I almost decided to leave. It's definitely not Hitchcockian. Hitch's plots were always crystal clear. He once said, "An audience confused is not an audience entertained."
one feels that PCW often has so much to say n that hurts the pacing of his films. a storybook being made to fit into a 2hr visual medium. Though visually, it was awesome.
This was a movie that was so annoyingly sure it was smarter then it's audience it was annoying to watch. It was packed with misogynist signs of Asian culture (1. how does a police officer fall asleep in a female suspects house without an official inquiry. 2. how are you supposed to care about a guy cheating on his wife who when his marriage ends throws her former desire for intimacy in her face like it's a joke for the audience to laugh at...ha ha she wanted to have a loving marriage isn't that funny cause she was boring and in love with the protagonist but he deserves a higher caliber of freak...seriously wtf was this director thinking.)
The ending that everyone is broken up over was predictable and well deserved for all involved to the point that I not only didn't care but would have grabbed the bucket and covered the hole myself and stamped the ground after. The only sympathetic characters in this movie are the old ladies being used by people to cover over murder and or to cause it and the Detectives wife that is trying to keep their obviously struggling marriage together up until she suspects he may have been involved in committing or covering over a murder...which he was. The director then interjects a guy in her life out of the blue to try to sully her misogynist trick #3 (see she was a bitch all along fella's don't care about her feelings care about the guy who is the star of this movie....but wait...she killed no one was there for him and wanted the best for him, she was concerned for his mental health and aside from a minor comment on how he looked was doing everything a text book devoted wife could do up to the point he revealed he was a scrub...but the movie wants you to love the "gorgeous" murderous cunt that would kill an innocent to keep her hands clean of the crime and hate the sane loving wife...seriously? )
Obviously dipshits fell for it cause I keep seeing comments about the gut punch of an ending but you people need to do a morality check this ain't Romeo and Juliet it's more like Basic Instinct. The whole movie it's the detective who was cavorting around with a suspected killer and who has through his bungling and lust cost more innocent lives. So we are to ignore all that and pine away for his love story that was in all reality just an obsession a sociopath had for him and vice versa?!?
The detective himself loses all sympathy when he tosses an earnest desire his wife had back in her face for a moment clearly set up to make the audience laugh. Everyone else is in this film is either an oaf, self obsessed idiot, drunk or a murderer and or a fool cucked by one. No one is worth giving a damn about and the narrative was not intelligent enough to try to be a thriller or a mystery there was never a moment I did not know exactly what was going on and why within 2 seconds of any reveal. This film is better seen at home so you can rewind for some small details or hopefully so they can dub it with good asian american actors. Otherwise it is not worthy of anything else but an inquiry into the mental health of anyone who was tricked into thinking the para social relationship and manipulation displayed in this movie had anything to do with love.
This story is worth seeing solely for the production, transitions and cinematography, the story should have been edited down a considerable amount to get to the point and should have revealed the obvious truth earlier so that we could have mulled over moral conclusions far sooner and in greater depth. The characters would have been better served if there was nuance not a clear villain or if they made the protagonist willing to delve into the villainy himself to rectify the situation (what would you do or how far would you go for love )and then maybe some new ground could be tread, again they fall for the misogynist trope of make the women crazy and the guy an upright morale lovable victim but he is so dumb here he ceases to be an innocent and becomes a total moron on numerous occasions...let me just stand at an edge of a cliff back turned to the killer and ho hum de dumb de dumb what might happen here....did he go to the same school of detective work as Inspector Gadget and Clouseau?
This is a less interesting basic instinct you have to read subtitles for that has better cinematography overall and an ending written for dramatic effect that doesn't stick the landing because of obtuse unlikeable characters throughout. It is also a worse movie. Go watch that instead if you haven't seen it you will have more fun. This is the sort of movie that needs to be re-written by an AAA-class writer to remove the misogyny and written more ambiguous so you don't know if the intent of the person is sincere throughout till the end or you find out it isn't and go full on Thelma and Louis vs the world with it and show two people killing and covering it up out of a mutual obsession. This movie however did not have the balls to shit or get off the pot and suffers as a direct result of it's toe dipping insufficiency. By the end there are enough admissions made directly by characters to see there is a unremorseful trash human at the center of this "love story" and the movie never gave you enough backstory to either accept them as they are for the thrill of it all or to question their innocent nature. You are left rooting for a remorseless killer and an idiot that destroyed his marriage to help her cover up her crimes and commit new ones....why would anyone care to be emotionally attached to these scum? Let me add I am not the morality police but if you can't figure out how to make me care about shitty characters as people or to watch them get what they deserve in an interesting way like say Jamie Lannister on Game of Thrones then why am I going to watch them for 2 hours and enjoy it. This is the riddle this movie fails flatly to solve thus it's audience suffers as a result. (Overall Movie score 4) Cinematography 8 , Writing 4, Acting 8
I'll skip the review and not watch,thanks alonzo!
But come on back later!
technology brings you closer to things digitally :) that will never be with you physically :(
Aww.
Great camera work, and some innovative filmmaking, but let's be real here, you have two unlikable characters that do bad things to everyone around them and then to themselves as well in the end. How can we be so blinded as an audience to fall for first-touch love and forget about all the murder, unprofessionality, and deceits?
That's what makes it interesting! They're complicated. It's messy. Thanks for watching.
A fan of Park Chan Wook other films and this one was a letdown. Dragged on too long. Relationship between detective and the lady was not interesting at all
It was beautifully shot. Some great compositions and editing. Music good to. Technical side was amazing. The story just did nothing for me
Thanks for your thoughts!
Didn't expect Americans to appreciate this movie. This is one of the few Americans who are reviewing it and doing the movie justice.
Thank you for watching and for the kind words!