Decision to Leave Trivia | 30 facts about the film

«Decision to Leave» is a 2022 South Korean romantic mystery film produced, co-written and directed by Park Chan-wook.

Let’s find out more abut the film!

1. Decision to Leave is a 2022 South Korean romantic mystery film.
2. It was produced, co-written and directed by Park Chan-wook.
3. It stars Tang Wei and Park Hae-il.
4. In April 2022, the film was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
5. Park Chan-wook won Best Director Award.
6. Decision to Leave was released theatrically on 29 June 2022 in South Korea.
7. The film received acclaim from critics, who praised Chan-wook’s direction, the cinematography, and the performances of Hae-il and Wei.
8. It was selected as the South Korean entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards, making the December shortlist.
9. It was also named one of the top 5 international films of 2022 by the National Board of Review.
10. The film is produced by Moho Film and is financed and distributed by CJ Entertainment.
11. It began principal photography in October 2020.
12. The film was released on 29 June 2022 on 1,374 screens.
13. It opened at first place on Korean box office with 114,592 admissions.
14. On 13 July, after two weeks of release, the film surpassed 1 million cumulative admissions
15. As of 7 January 2023, it is the tenth highest-grossing Korean film of 2022.
16. It’s a gross of US$15,589,120 and 1,893,954 admissions.
17. Official submission of South Korea for the ‘Best International Feature Film’ category of the 95th Academy Awards in 2023.
18. Park Chan-wook’s inspiration for the film was the Swedish crime novel series “The Story of a Crime” by authors Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö.
19. The series follows the aging police detective Martin Beck and are known for their social critique. Park’s pitch was “what if Martin Beck fell in love with a suspect?”
20. (Director’s Trademark): There are multiple octopuses hanging in the background in the scene in the fish market.
21. Director Park Chan-wook has said that he used cell phone POV shots to show that the characters are not only looking at the screens of their devices, but to give a sense that they are actually looking at the other person.
22. Mahler’s 5th Symphony is also the soundtrack of ‘Tar’ and the 4th Movement is also featured in ‘Death in Venice’
23. Director Park Chan-wook has mentioned that initially he didn’t like the idea of using many text messages in the film.
24. He even said that he considered making it a period piece, in order for the characters to write each other beautifully hand written letters instead of text messages on their phones.
25. When he finally decided on a contemporary setting, when possible, he had the characters use a smart watch, voice recordings and translation apps instead of typing.
26. The complete Martin Beck book series, written by author couple Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, is visible on a table in a scene as a nod to the fact that Director Park Chan-wook have stated that he got inspiration for the film from those books.
27. Decision to Leave had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2022, and its US premiere at Fantastic Fest Film Festival took place in the same month.
28. It was released theatrically in the United States and United Kingdom on 14 October 2022.
29. It was released in Australia in the same week.
30. The movie lasts 139 minutes.
31. It opened at first place on Korean box office with 114,592 admissions
32. On 13 July, after two weeks of release, the film surpassed 1 million cumulative admissions
33. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 92% rating based on 79 reviews with an average rating of 8.1/10
34. Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 85 out of 100
35. Based on 29 critic reviews, indicating “universal acclaim”