Decision to Leave, 2022, dir. Park Chan-wook. St. Anthony Main, Friday, October 28.

Decision to Leave opened at the St. Anthony Main Cinema, or The Main Cinema, or the Film Society at the Main (I can’t keep their boring name straight) on this day, and it was me and two others at the 4:00pm show. It’s being advertised along with its distributor, which is MUBI, a streaming service. I think they’re doing their best trying to play both ends against the middle: yeah, please go see it at the theater or, even better?, on our streaming service. The result is that great art house cinema is not being seen in cinemas. Even though this seems like the kind of movie that would appeal to all the folks in the high rises near the theater. This goes for a ton of other great movies as well.

For the movie, I felt compelled through the story of Decision to Leave, on the edge of my seat in a couple of spots, but ultimately I came away enjoying this as I would a bag of potato chips or an ice cream: empty calories. In only one scene was I truly surprised (in its astounding ending—gorgeous and moving), and while it was never predictable, as scenes played out I never once emerged feeling like I’d just seen something incredible (which I could say after a good many scenes in Oldboy). In a way I don’t care, because I sometimes just want to be entertained—my initial disappointment was in comparing Decision to Leave to Park Chan-wook’s other films. Instead, I need to compare it to Knives Out, a movie I didn’t like because I don’t like silly piece-the-puzzle-together mysteries. If I did like those types of stories, Knives Out would be empty calories, a night at a burger joint with top ingredients—I can’t really fault that movie’s acting or script or direction, it’s just not for me. Instead, I’m more a fan of South Korean junk food, and despite its marketing and its pedigrees and its poster, Decision to Leave is just that, junk, and not a great piece of cinema. And I’m not complaining.