Park Chan-wook's latest is best described as an erotic, noir-tinged crime thriller that lacked sex. Essentially mostly a two-hander between a gloriously enigmatic and magnetic Tang Wei and handsomely dignified yet befuddled Park Hae-il, Park is back with another deep dive into the minds and psyches of seemingly simple yet utterly complex characters but all presented.
Co-written by Park, Decision to Leave, won him the Best Director at this year's Cannes and it was not hard to see why as this film was filled with extraordinary details - the detailed production design, and the immaculate costume and makeup, especially of Tang and Park's signature directorial flourishes - fancy editing, overhead god-views, unreliable narrators, flashbacks, dolly zooms, etc. In essence, a feast for the eye and the mind.
This film, though ostensibly a crime thriller, was less of a whodunit or a why-dunit, but an intimate exploration into the minds of two lonely individuals and the complications of their somewhat-forbidden relationship. Park's camera lingered on their body (language) as the spoken word became less important than what was not being said. In particular, Tang's foreign-ness - Chinese in Korea - not only presented an additional air of mystery surrounding her character but allowed her enigma to become a character unto itself.
However, before you know it, Park swerved hard left and the third act was almost another story. The slow burn of the first two acts quickly cascaded into a crashing denouement, and suddenly emotions were gushing forth and consequences were befalling. Yet, this third act never seemed rushed. It may have been unexpected (although on hindsight, much foreshadowing had been made), but it did not seemed out of place.
And in the end, the conclusion was as emotionally powerful as it was enigmatic. A fitting end to a story that traded on the simple resonance of complex emotions.
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