Park Chan-wook returns after six years with a crossroad genre and grabbed the best director award for this film in Cannes Film Festival. So the expectation were set upfront before its worldwide release.
Unfortunately this film turned out to be my least favorite film from the Korean master. Its essentially a love story disguised as a thriller. It did remind me of few movies like Vertigo, In The Mood Of Love and Basic Instinct. The story starts off with a death investigation and the veteran in charge suspects the victims wife. And thus begins the twisted tale of obsession, unspoken love and investigation.
This film is sort of Hitchcockian in style but a lot calmer and restrained take from the director compared to his previous film. The visuals , the complex camera angles are top notch and there are some great stand out in the way the story is being presented. The body language, the eye contact and non verbal language are plenty in this desire to be together movie The love for details that the film cultivates are striking and sophisticated.
Some may say its deeply layered and meta in nature, but the uncertainty and placid slowness is a test of patience. The intensity to fully convince and rise to the level of the director's previous films is a great miss here. The hard to believe crime elements and the final act did not offer any reward. Its an impressive filmography but a difficult to like as its messy and tries too hard. The unspoken love may appeal to some and i dont belong there.
Verdit - 3/5(A Love and Crime)
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