Duration: 138 minutes
Director: Park Chan-wook
Actors: Tang Wei, Park Hae-il
Country: Korea
Genre: Romance, drama, thriller
Premiere: July 15, 2022
Surely reading the articles related to the movie Determination to Leave (English title: Decision to Leave), you will encounter countless compliments for the film that was awarded Best Director at the festival. Cannes film in 2022. Indeed, with the reputation of the director who has stunned many viewers with Old boy (2003) or The Handmaiden (2016), the audience is extremely looking forward to it and is determined to go to theaters to enjoy Quyet. break up to uncover the mysteries of this emotional thriller. Let’s Tipreview the movie Determination to Break Up to see if the movie is as good and attractive as everyone expects. Come on, let’s get started!
Plot: Hae Joon is a capable detective of the Korean police department. During the investigation of the death of a former immigration official due to falling from the top of a mountain, Hae Joon meets Seo Rae – A Chinese immigrant woman, the victim’s wife who is also the number 1 suspect. Irony Instead, our exemplary police officer quickly fell in love with the widow and the more he investigated, the more he became entangled in inescapable troubles and heavy questions in his mind. Where will this story end? Watch the movie to get your answer.
Overall, Determined to Break Up is a movie that is not picky about the audience but is not easy to watch either. The film’s fast pace with impromptu storytelling and a series of details, images and colors that have metaphorical meanings to replace the actors’ dialogue makes the film have something strange and difficult to understand, but Also very attractive to viewers. Even though it is 138 minutes long, the audience feels that everything passes very quickly with their own judgments and doubts, so when the theater lights come on, many people will surely wonder what will happen next? Let’s analyze the strengths and weaknesses of Determination to Break Up with Tipreview to better understand the movie.
Plus mark:
According to Tipreview, the most interesting plus point of Determination to Break Up is the metaphorical images that the director included in each frame of the film. The film presents two opposing concepts: mountains and seas, quoting Confucius’s comment when comparing a kind person to the mountain and a wise person to the sea. Each person will figure out for themselves who is the mountain and who is the sea, corresponding to the pair of main characters of the film. The film’s metaphorical meaning also comes from the images, colors and even the smallest details of Determination to Break Up, for example, the pattern on the wall of Seo Rae’s house, the orange, green, and blue colors symbolizing Each character’s personality, stairs, mountains, ocean waves, etc., down to details such as rings, lips, phones, or unexpected camera angles, zooming in and out, are all hidden. some intention of the director. The more times you watch it, the audience will experience interesting things that seem difficult to understand but are arranged extremely delicately and profoundly.
Another plus point of Determination to Break Up is the top acting ability of the two main actors. 90% of the film has the appearance of Thang Duy and Park Hae Il but does not cause a feeling of boredom, but on the contrary creates curiosity and attraction in the viewer with every gesture, look and interaction. It’s so interesting between the two actors. With her beautiful beauty, seductive eyes and multi-faceted smile, Thang Duy still makes the main character and the audience immersed in her beauty and always question themselves whether they should trust him or not. Is this item or not? Park Hae Il brings the image of a police officer who is unhappy with his family life, devoted to his job but also tormented by standing between love and conscience. The relationship of the two main characters through the duo’s expressions has brought a cinematic experience that is both confusing and interestingly simple and natural.
As mentioned above, the look of Determination to Break Up is also very special with creative and interesting filming angles and ways of expressing content. The film flexibly uses close-up angles and macro shots to express allegory and describe the character’s mood. Colors are chosen and changed according to the filmmakers’ intentions, bringing many interesting associations to viewers. The music used in the film is quite appropriate, especially the classical symphonic music, making the film’s plot more mysterious and unpredictable.
The determination to break up does not have a clear message, but precisely because of this, it creates a plus point for the film. The audience is confused, playing with the questions and mixed emotions of the characters that cannot escape, similar to the emotions of Hae Hoon and Seo Rae. The line between kind people and bad people, between love and exploitation is very fragile, just like the way love in each person grows and crumbles. The ending of the film leaves many thoughts and mixed opinions, but it is the most suitable ending for all of our characters.
Minus point:
With its storytelling style and random scene transitions, Determination to Break Up will surely make many audiences feel confused and self-conscious about their own IQ level. The film does not have a specific climax nor does it contain interesting plot twists to make the audience excited. The plot changes are somewhat rushed, especially in the second half of the movie when everyone moves back to Ipo city, making viewers frown many times while watching. Therefore, the movie is not suitable for those who love entertaining movies or expect a surprising detective plot or thrilling drama like Parasite.
After all, Determined to Break Up is a love movie with detective and sensational colors added. The film does not delve too deeply into the details of crime investigation, it even inserts a few other cases into the story line to emphasize love but also unintentionally distracts the audience. This is not a good movie, but a beautiful film about cinematic art and must be watched many times to be able to feel the implications of talented director Park Chan Wook.
Assessment scale:
IMDB: 7.5/10 (11,000 reviews)
Google: 88/100
Rotten Tomatoes: Not rated yet
Tipreview: 8.0/10 (Addictive)
In short, Determined to Break Up is an interesting movie to enjoy on a rainy weekend afternoon. The film is not suitable for all audiences and is not easy to fully understand on the first viewing. However, like a work of literature, the more you analyze it, the more you see that the film has many interesting and interesting things hidden behind its confusing surface. Don’t place too high expectations on the movie and don’t take your eyes off the screen for any moment and after watching it, read Tipreview’s review again, maybe you’ll find the movie better!
And you, how do you rate this movie?
