GREAT CINEMAMASTER LIST
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The Essential 713, made interactive

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great film.

Search 713 spoiler-free recommendations from 1916 to 2026. Filter by the night you want—not the list you’re supposed to finish.

Direct film viewShowing master rank #293 on its own—not above the ranking.
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Artwork
DirectorAll directors

Most represented · 6+ films

More recurring directors · 3–5 films54
All directors · surname A–Z438
ActorAll actors

Most represented actors

Big Three membership
Major award winners

1 selected film

Master Rank balances Greatness, Engagement, and Ease. Sort by Greatness for the artistic-canon view.

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View Decision to Leave film page
Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List

Spoiler-free premise

A detective investigating a man’s death becomes fascinated by the victim’s enigmatic widow.

Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free

Busan detective Hae-jun investigates the mountain death of an immigration worker and repeatedly interviews his Chinese widow, Seo-rae. Surveillance, translation, and their growing fascination complicate his effort to decide whether the death was accidental.

Why it belongs

Decision to Leave makes attraction a problem of looking, translating, and reconstructing, with elegant digital transitions binding romance to investigation.

Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case

Phones, smartwatches, binoculars, mountain and sea imagery, translated speech, and impossible-feeling visual transitions place Hae-jun inside his own surveillance—Tang Wei and Park Hae-il make concealment and attention forms of intimacy.

Major award record

Metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20
Cannes1 win2022 · official festival record ↗
Award for Best Director2022 · PARK Chan-Wookofficial festival record ↗

Totals include every recorded competitive win. Only Picture or top-film honors, Direction, Screenplay, and lead or supporting performances are named.

Good for
Film Club
Descriptive guidance derived from rating, genre, runtime, mood, and GCML scores.

Institutional reference ranks

Sight & Sound—IMDb Top 250—AFI 100—
Reference metadata only · not part of the 40/40/20 score

Great Cinema Master List scores

Greatness8.9
Engagement9.0
Ease8.1

Korean · R
Narrative Feature
Mood: Elegant & Hypnotic