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| ▲ This photo, provided by CJ ENM, shows movie "Decision to Leave." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo, provided by CJ ENM, shows movie "Decision to Leave." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by CJ ENM, shows casts and director of "Decision to Leave" at Cannes. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by Cannes, shows poster of movie "Close." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo, provided by Cannes, shows poster of movie "All Quiet on the Western Front." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Jan. 5 (Yonhap) -- Attention is drawn to whether Director Park Chan-wook's film "Decision to Leave" will bring home a trophy for the best non-English language film at 80th Golden Globe Awards, which is to take place on January 10 (U.S. Time) in the United States.
Park recently flew to the U.S to attend the Awards.
Hosted by Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Golden Globe Awards is one of the two major film awards along with Academy Awards.
In Korea, starting with Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite" winning the Best Foreign Language Film in 2020, the Korean-American director Jeong Isaac won the same award the following year.
In 2022, actor Oh Young-soo of "Squid Game" received the Best Supporting Actor award in the TV drama category, continuing on such achievements for the third consecutive year.
If "Decision to Leave" wins the non-English language award this year, Korea will be taking home Golden Globe awards for four years in a row.
The movie also made the shortlist for International Feature Film at Academy Awards. If a good news is heard at the Golden Globe Awards, known as the "prelude to Academy Awards," there is higher chance to win an award at Academy, which will take place on March 12.
◇ "Decision to Leave" already evaluated as the best work..."Possible to win"
"Decision to Leave" is a long-length film by director Park six years after "The Handmaiden." It is a melo thriller about a detective Hae-joon (Park Hae-il), who is investigating a murder case of a man, feeling suspicious and interested at the same time to the deceased's wife, Seorae (Tangwei).
Director Park Chan-wook won the best director award at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, one of the world's top three film festivals, in May last year with the film. It was also invited to more than 20 international film festivals, including the Valladolid, Vienna, Chicago, and New York Film Festival last year.
Oh Dong-jin, a film critic, said, "Foreign journalists decide on the winning work, and the film has been receiving quite a good feedback from the the media," adding, "The film is favored to win as it is popular enough that even former U.S. President Barack Obama chose it as one of his favorite movies."
Critic Jeon Chan-il said, "The non-English language film award is expected to be a two-way race between 'Decision to Leave' and 'Close', which won the Cannes Grand Prix. I think 'Decision to Leave' is advantageous in many ways, including the director's reputation.
◇ Competitive rivals... "Topic of Love Story can be disadvantageous"
However, the works competing with "Decision to Leave" are also not easy rivals.
Four works, including "Close" (The Netherlands, France, Belgium), "All Quiet on the Western Front" (Germany), "Argentina, 1985" (Argentina), and "RRR" (India), were also nominated.
"Close" won the Cannes Grand Prix last year. It depicts the story of two children, who were closer than anyone else in a rural village,going to middle school together but becoming apart after being ridicule by their peers. The director is Lucas Dhont from Belgium, who won the Golden Camera Award in Cannes in 2018 with his long-length directorial debut film "Girl."
"All Quiet on the Western Front" is a film version of Erich Remarque 's novel of the same name. It is about a 17-year-old Paul's participation in World War I. Edward Berger, who directed the movie "Jack" (2014), directed.
"Argentina, 1985" is based on the true story of lawyers who fought against the Argentine dictatorship in 1985. It is a new film directed by Santiago Mitre, who directed "Polina" (2015) and "The Summit" (2017).
RRR is a work inspired by a real person who resisted Britain's power during Britain's colonization in India in the 1920s. It is characterized by depicting the two main characters' resistance to British power as light and comical as a superhero movie.
A movie critic, Yoon Sung-eun, said, "The local atmosphere (where the Golden Globe will be held) is not bad, and while director Park Chan-wook is famous, his work is also good," but added, "If we were to think of it as a soccer game, the match list is not good. Rivalry works are strong."
On top of that, few state that the topic of love story could be disadvantageous as it is lighter and more personal compared to other nominations.
Yoon explained, "T'Decision to Leave' is romance film in nature, but works dealing with stronger topics have more advantage (in winning the award)."
Critic Jeon Chan-il also said, "Because the topic is love, you either love it or hate it," adding, "Since stories dealing with bigger topics such as women, disabilities, Neoliberalism, etc. are well-received by the viewers these days, the fact that the movie focused on love could be disadvantageous."
Nevertheless, if "Decision to Break Up" were to win the Golden Globe, the film industry predicts that positive result can be expected from the Academy Awards as well.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Jiwon Woo.)
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