‘Decision to Leave’ makes the New York Times list of best movies of 2022

Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave” made it on the New York Times’s Best Movies of 2022 list.

New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis on Wednesday introduced 10 films that impressed her this year, and Park’s Cannes-winning film “Decision to Leave” ranked eighth.

She compared the film to Alfred Hitchcok’s “Vertigo,” saying it’s a “delirious riff on Hitchcok’s “aching 1958 drama about a male detective’s obsession with a mystery woman.”

“Once again, there is a man and a woman as well as love and betrayal. Yet as ‘Decision to Leave’ unfolds and settles into its own distinctively kinked groove, the movie’s emotional focus progressively shifts from the obsessed lover to the object of his relentless, uncomprehending gaze, and Park’s clever homage turns into a poignant rejoinder,” she writes.

She picked “EO” by Jerzy Skolimowski first, followed by “Petite Maman” by Céline Sciamma in second.

“Decision to Leave” follows police detective Hae-jun, portrayed by Park Hae-il, who begins to fall for a suspect: a Chinese widow named Seo-rae, portrayed by Tang Wei. The pair meet after Hae-jun begins to investigate a mysterious death of a man — Seo-rae’s husband — who was found dead after falling from a mountain. Riding a fine line between investigative drama and romance, the film earned director Park the best director award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]