Tang Wei at Cannes Photo: Istimewa
By Zhuo Shuchang
Tang Wei, a Hangzhou born film actress found herself under the spotlight at this year's Cannes International Film Festival. She was nominated for Best Actress for her leading role in The Decision to Leave, the only film rated above 3 out of 4 during premieres of all the participating films.
The genre-combining detective thriller was good enough for the South-Korean director Park Chan-wook to win Best Director and it is really different. Tang jokingly said if Park's previous films were like kimchi, The Decision to Leave would taste fresh, plain and sweet.
Tang portrays an enigmatic widow in the film. Her late husband was found dead falling off a cliff and she was called to identify the body. There she met the detective played by Park Hae-il who was drawn to Tang for she had an unusual and mysterious aura around her. This unusual hybrid of romance and police procedural proves to be an outstanding watching experience as it received an 8-minute-long standing ovation after its premiere and is a definitely a must-watch for many movie lovers.
BBC calls the film "a gleaming treat" while the Guardian says "It's a gorgeously and grippingly made picture and Tang Wei is magnificent." It also has an incredible rotten tomato score of 94% with a critic consensus that "it is a remarkable achievement".