Park Chan-wook's 'Decision to Leave' to represent Korea at Academy Awards

Park Chan-wook's latest film "Decision to Leave" (2022) has been chosen to represent Korea at the 2023 Academy Awards. The Korean Film Council said Thursday evening that the film would be shown in the best international feature category. In this..

A scene from Park Chan-wook's "Decision to Leave" (2022) [CJ ENM]

Park Chan-wook’s latest film “Decision to Leave” (2022) has been chosen to represent Korea at the 2023 Academy Awards.

The Korean Film Council said Thursday evening that the film would be shown in the best international feature category.

In this section, only one film per country is allowed to be submitted.

“Decision to Leave” follows police detective Hae-jun, portrayed by actor 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 the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

As for the Oscars, director Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” (2019) was the first Korean film to win an award in 2020.

The 95th Academy Awards is scheduled for March 12 next year.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]