• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Oldboy Director's New Film Receives 'Muted' Five-Minute Standing Ovation

Home> Film & TV

Updated 09:39 24 May 2022 GMT+1Published 09:33 24 May 2022 GMT+1

Oldboy Director's New Film Receives 'Muted' Five-Minute Standing Ovation

Decision to Leave marks the South Korean filmmaker’s first feature-length movie since the beautifully shot erotic thriller The Handmaiden

Daisy Phillipson

Daisy Phillipson

The new film by Oldboy director Park Chan-wook played at this year’s Cannes Film Festival where it received a lengthy standing ovation – although the applause was more ‘muted’ than usual. 

Decision to Leave marks the South Korean filmmaker’s first feature-length movie since the beautifully shot erotic thriller The Handmaiden, released in 2016. 

But while the reception at the 2022 Cannes was as positive as the last, according to Variety’s Zack Sharf, the ‘reception was notably more muted’.

Advert

The situation was only exacerbated by a technical fault, with Sharf writing: “While the camera the festival uses that normally shows on the creative team’s gracious reaction after the movie, and helps to keep the applause rolling, wasn’t working, the response was quiet even before the technical snafu.”

Nonetheless, if Decision to Leave is even half as good as Park’s previous movies then we’re still in for a treat. 

The plot centres on a detective who falls for a mysterious widow who becomes the prime suspect in his latest murder investigation, leading many to compare it to Paul Verhoeven's 1992 thriller Basic Instinct. 

Advert

Early reviews of the movie – starring Blackhat’s Tang Wei and The Host’s Park Hae-il – have been positive so far, with The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw giving it five stars, writing: “It’s a gorgeously and grippingly made picture and Tang Wei is magnificent.”

The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney added: “Crafted with unforced humour, ravishing visuals and commanding maturity, Decision to Leave intoxicates with its potent brew of love, emotional manipulation – or is it? – and obsession.”

Many have compared the film to Hitchcockian greats, including the BBC’s Nicholas Barber who said: “Essentially Park and his co-writer Chung Seo-kyung have made a cracking post-Hitchcock romantic thriller with everything that requires, from intimate interrogations to rooftop chases to people standing on clifftops as the waves crash on the beach below.”

Park Chan-wook proved himself to be one of the most important directors of our generation with Oldboy.
Show East

Advert

Ahead of its screening at Cannes, streamer Mubi revealed it had picked up the distribution rights to Decision to Leave for numerous regions including North America, UK, Ireland, Turkey and India. 

Anyone who’s a fan of Park’s work, most notably his Vengeance trilogy, you’ll be excited to know that the film will reach theatres in the UK and US this autumn, followed by a release on Mubi. 

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]  

Featured Image Credit: Show East/Mubi

Topics: Film and TV

Daisy Phillipson
Daisy Phillipson

Daisy graduated from Kingston University with a degree in Magazine Journalism, writing a thesis on the move from print to digital publishing. Continuing this theme, she has written for a range of online publications including Digital Spy and Little White Lies, with a particular passion for TV and film. Contact her on [email protected]

X

@DaisyWebb77

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

7 hours ago
11 hours ago
15 hours ago
21 hours ago
  • 7 hours ago

    New Netflix mini-series gets 'crazier with every episode' as it climbs most-watched charts within days

    The series is currently one of the top shows on Netflix

    Film & TV
  • 11 hours ago

    Underrated Jennifer Lawrence movie that fans say is 'the best they've ever seen' is leaving Prime very soon

    The movie saw Jennifer Lawrence get her first Oscar nomination

    Film & TV
  • 15 hours ago

    Netflix viewers 'blown away' by 'sickening' footage in new documentary about Astroworld tragedy

    One viewer said they were left in tears and had 'chills' after seeing all the shoes on the ground after the deadly crush

    Film & TV
  • 21 hours ago

    Lilo & Stitch actor David Hekili Kenui Bell dies aged 57 just weeks after film's premiere

    The star's sister confirmed his death in a lengthy tribute post

    Film & TV
  • Jason Segel reveals five-word x-rated text Harrison Ford sent him about joining his new show after seeing him naked
  • 'Most disturbing film' banned in six countries was so horrific actors couldn't finish their lines
  • 'Revolting' film with necrophilia deemed so gruesome it was banned in six countries
  • Adult film director explains why unsimulated sex scenes in movies 'aren't porn'