Restrained in many ways yet footloose in others, Decision to Leave might not be the kind of film one would expect from the writer/director of such violent fare as Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, yet Park Chan-wook’s latest winner has plenty in common with his previous feature, The Handmaiden.

Though missing that film’s eroticism and impressive period detail, Park’s follow-up is another twisty mystery where layers are constantly being pulled back to reveal new information — and us gobsmacked viewers reap the rewards.

Every detail in the saga of detective Jang Hae-joon (Park Hae-il, Memories of Murder) investigating the death of an amateur mountain climber and his entanglement with the man’s widow Song Seo-rae (Tang Wei, Lust, Caution) is meticulously crafted, resulting early and often in the sense that viewers are in the hands of a master filmmaker.

Though Decision to Leave lacks the elaborate camerawork and impressive stunts of Park’s prior works, he compensates with enthralling scene transitions between unrelated objects that nonetheless carry significant visually continuity, as well as multiple moments where Hae-joon imagines himself in places that he’s merely surveilling from afar.

These and other aspects ably convey our protagonist’s professional skills, which make it all the more tragic when he goes against his better judgment and allows his romantic interest in Seo-rae to compromise a case in which she’s a prime suspect.

The extent to which these world’s collide is best experienced without additional knowledge, and while the thrills are plentiful, they’re also layered with a surprising amount of humor, particularly in Hae-joon’s other investigation alongside his partner Soo-wan (Go Kyung-pyo) as the duo achieve hilariously different levels of success in corralling their persons of interest.

The combination of the above assets and those that won’t be spoiled here form nothing short of a masterpiece.

Grade: A. Not Rated, but with adult themes and language. Now playing at Grail Moviehouse.

(Photo: MUBI)