Days after Mubi reported that director Charlotte Wells’ debut feature Aftersun had become its most-streamed film globally, the arthouse streamer/distributor has revealed that Korean auteur Park Chan-wook’s kooky detective thriller Decision to Leave has become its most-streamed film in North America.
Mubi was secretive about the actual viewership figures, but Deadline reported that Decision to Leave has overtaken titles such as Lars Von Trier’s The Kingdom and Terrence Malick’s Voyage Of Time. The Cannes hit is also the streamer’s top-performing title on North American transactional platforms. Additionally, Decision to Leave has delivered Park’s best North American box office ($2.15 million) despite playing in only 169 screens at its peak. The film will soon get a re-release in the U.S. and the U.K.
Decision to Leave stars Tang Wei and Park Hae-il as a grieving widow and the grizzled detective investigating her husband’s suspicious death, respectively. Over the course of the twisted investigation, the detective develops feelings for the woman, who also happens to be the prime suspect in the case. Directed with typical visual flair by Park, the film’s psychosexual, Hitchcockian tone was widely acclaimed by critics. Collider’s own Ross Bonaime wrote in his review, “With Decision to Leave, Park Chan-wook places all the pieces on this impressive table before sitting us down for a sumptuous meal that proves himself once more to be a fascinating director who can blend all of these ingredients together and make it all look effortless.”
Decision to Leave premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022, where it was selected to compete for the prestigious Palme d’Or. It ended up winning Park the Best Director honor. The film was also selected as South Korea’s official entry for the Academy Awards in the Best International Feature category, although in what came as a surprise to its cult of fans, it failed to secure a nomination.
The film did, however, secure four nods at this year’s BAFTA awards, including Best Director for Park. The filmmaker was an instrumental part of the Korean new wave, which began at the turn of the millennium and was defined by films from directors such as Kim Ji-woon and Bong Joon-ho. He’s best known for his Vengeance trilogy of thrillers — Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance. He made his English-language debut with the Gothic thriller Stoker, and also directed the espionage miniseries The Little Drummer Girl.
Park is now directing Robert Downey Jr. in HBO’s adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer. You can watch a trailer for the film here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.