The 2023 Asian Film Awards revealed that Decision to Leave was the most popular nomination in different categories. At this year’s event, Park Chan-wook’s crime drama Decision to Leave led nominations that included those for best film and best director. First presented in 2007, the AFAs are organized by an academy created by the Hong Kong International Film Festival, the Busan Film Festival, and the Tokyo Film Festival.
The movie received several impressive nominations, including Best Screenplay and acting nominations for Park Hae-il and Tang Wei. In summary, the ten-nomination list for Decision to Leave includes Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Park Hae-il), Best Actress (Tang Wei), Best Cinematography (Kim Ji-yong), Best Editing (Kim Sang-beom), Best Original Music (Cho Young Wuk), Best Production Design (Ryu Seong-hie), and Best Sound (Kim Suk-won). The complete list of nominations can be found here.
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A Crime Drama Investigation
As a detective in Decision to Leave, Park Hae-il investigates a fatal accident in the mountains that may hint at a murder. It is while examining the case that he meets the dead man’s mysterious wife, who is being investigated as a possible suspect. Over time, she becomes more and more entangled in his investigation, resulting in a romantic relationship.
As part of the Best Film category, Decision to Leave competes against several other well-reviewed films from over the past year. A good example is the 2022 Oscar winner Drive My Car, directed by Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi. In addition to these films, the award is also being considered for Kazakhstan film Poet by Darezhan Omirbayev, India’s Ponniyin Selvan: I from Mani Ratnam, and the Philippines’ When the Waves Are Gone from Lav Diaz.
The Asian Film Awards honor the most outstanding entertainment contributions of cinema from across Asia Pacific regions with diverse filmmaking traditions. It is expected that the 2023 event will take place on March 12 in Hong Kong. A total of thirty films from twenty-two different regions will compete in sixteen categories at the ceremony, which will take place at Hong Kong’s Palace Museum. This is its first in-person appearance since the pandemic, thus marking a significant milestone for the AFAs after a few difficult years.
As far as the national rankings are concerned, South Korea and Japan dominated the list with seventeen nominations each. Nine nominated films came from Mainland China, including Homecoming, Moon Man, One and Four, and Lighting up the Stars.
