Park Chan-wook’s new DECISION TO LEAVE openly takes inspiration from David Lean’s 1945 classic BRIEF ENCOUNTER (along with VERTIGO, which we also considered for this pairing), but the extramarital affair at the center of Park’s film is much more complicated than that of its inspiration — a murder mystery will do that, after all. We do our best to unpack the pileup of telling details informing Park’s slow-burn romance, before bringing Lean’s film back into the discussion to explore how these two stories connect in their respective studies of forbidden love and judgmental societies, the romanticism of stolen moments, and the metaphorical power of fog. Plus, we nod to an episode that almost was in Your Next Picture Show, sharing our brief reactions to Ruben Östlund’s TRIANGLE OF SADNESS and some of the films we considered pairing it with.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about BRIEF ENCOUNTER, DECISION TO LEAVE, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], leaving a short voicemail at 773-234-9730, or commenting on our Patreon (patreon.com/NextPictureShow), where you can also find bonus episodes and more. 

Works cited:

“‘Decision to Leave’ brings back dark obsessions for ‘Oldboy’ director Park Chan-work,” by Tasha Robinson (polygon.com)

Outro music: Jung Hoon Hee w/ Song Chang-sik, “Mist”

Next Pairing: Stephen Frears’ DANGEROUS LIAISONS and Todd Field’s TAR

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