Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

It’s Halloween weekend, with lots of good scary movies playing now, but if you’re staying home, you check out the streamer Shudder, with some of the coolest indie horror and fantasy movies out there. Or if you’re on Netflix, check out Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, his new anthology series of well-made, one-hour dramas.

But this week I’m looking at three new movies, all of which I saw this year at TIFF. There’s an Irish friendship threatened with divorce, a killer who may be a nurse, and a detective obsessed with a suspect who may be a killer… or worse.

Decision to Leave

Co-Wri/Dir: Park Chan-wook

Hae jun (Park Hae-il) is a homicide detective in Busan, Korea. He is devoted to his job, but less so to his wife, whom he only sees on weekends. She lives in Ipo, a small town with very few murders. In comparison, Busan is a veritable hotbed of organized crime, drugs and violence. But one unusual case catches his attention: a middle aged mountain-climbing enthusiast who fell to his death from an especially steep cliff. it seems to be a cut and dry accident, except for his widow’s reaction, she barely had one.  He decides to follow her, stake her out and surveil and record her every movement. The widow Seo-rae (Tang Wei) is a femme fatale, young, beautiful, and exotic in his eyes (she’s originally from China.) And unknown to him, she gets off on being followed and watched. His obsession shifts from interrogation to first-hand contact and eventually to a passionate, clandestine affair. He later moves to the quiet town of Ipo to be with his wife. But when he discovers Seo-rae lives there too, and is remarried to very rich man, his suspicions are raised. Is she a killer or just an innocent woman? And will seeing her again lead to trouble?

Decision to Leave is a fast-moving and stylish police thriller, told with an absurdist touch.  It never takes itself too seriously, but it’s a lot of fun to watch. Tang Wei (who was great in Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution) has a classic noir feel to her. And Park Hae-il plays the beguiled but committed police detective very well. The movie is beautifully crafted but constantly plays tricks on the viewers. It has some of the strangest shifts in point of view I’ve ever seen, including even one shot seen through the cloudy eyes of a dead fish. Which makes the movie a bit challenging to follow, but worth it.

The Good Nurse

Dir: Tobias Lindholm

Amy (Jessica Chastain) is a single mom with two cute but rambunctious young girls. She has a woman who takes care of the kids when she works late, but her patience is running out. Amy works full time as a registered nurse at a corporate hospital in New Jersey. She also has a heart condition, which requires major surgery. But if the hospital finds out about her pre-existing condition before she finishes her probationary period, she’ll be let go. enter Charlie (Eddie Redmayne) a kindly inoffensive nurse who just transferred from another hospital. He helps her out, covering for her when she faints at work, and volunteering to help with her kids. He’s divorced with kids himself so he’s good with children.

But things start to go wrong at the hospital. Patients are dying for no good reason. And when the police come to investigate, they are stonewalled by the hospital management, who refuse to cooperate. But two of the patients died on Amy’s shift, so she needs to find out what happened. Like why did an otherwise healthy senior die of a suddenly skyrocketing insulin level? And what about a little kid? All of the patients are in hospital for a reason, but that’s not how they died. The more she investigates, the more it looks like good ol’ Charlie is somehow connected. Can she figure out why the patients are dying and who is responsible? Or will this put her and her family in danger?

The Good Nurse is a mystery thriller, based on a true story. It’s two hours long, and it doesn’t get good till near the end of the first hour. I saw this movie at TIFF on a huge screen at Roy Thompson Hall, and I found it visually oppressive. Everything is drab and dull, grey and light blue, dim and soft focussed, with an intensely boring colour palate. All you see are institutions — hospitals and police— at their most plain and mundane. Movies are meant to be a pleasure watch, why make it so a chore to look at. (Admittedly, I saw it again on Netflix on a small screen, and it didn’t bother me visually nearly as much.) In any case, the story is good, thrilling and tense, once it picks up. Jessica Chastain is sympathetic as Amy, and Eddie Redmayne is excellent as a milquetoast guy with a dark side. If you just want to spend two hours on a true crime hospital mystery with no expectations, The Good Nurse will probably satisfy you.

The Banshees of Inisherin

Dir: Martin McDonagh

It’s 1923, on a tiny, fictional island, separated by water from the Irish civil war raging in the distance. Pádraic (Collin Farrell) is a simple man living a simple life. He plays with his miniature donkey, sells his cows’ milk to the local shop, and sleeps soundly in his cottage close to his sister Siobhan’s bed (Kerry Condon). But most important of all, is his best friend Colm (Brendan Gleeson). They meet each afternoon to walk to the pub and chat over beer. Which is why he is shocked and confused when Colm decides one day, not to go drinking with Pádraic. Just today? No, now and forever. Colm doesn’t want to drink with him, Colm talk with him, He doesn’t even look at him. He has wasted enough time on pointless chatter, and now wants to his life worthwhile, to do something noteworthy. Colm plays the fiddle, perhaps he can compose a great work. But Pádraic refuses to allow his best friend to just walk away. He won’t leave him.  Until Colm makes a vow: If you ever speak with me again, I will cut off one of my own fingers. And if you persist, I will cut off another and another until you leave me alone.  What’s wrong with Colm? Should Pádraic take him seriously? Is this all his own fault?

The Banshees of Inisherin is a really good dark comedy, that builds from a simple disagreement to one of increasingly dramatic reactions on each side. I’m only touching on one plot — there are also subplots involving Dom (Barry Keoghan) a simpleton who has a crush on Padraic’s sister; Mrs McCormick (Shiela Flitton) a creepy, banshee-like neighbour, as well as an abusive policeman who is also Dominic’s dad.

I’m guessing here, but maybe — even though it’s never explicitly mentioned in the movie — the story is a metaphor for the Irish Civil War, with Pádraic as the pro-treaty side who wants things to stay the same, and Colm as the IRA who wants a dramatic change even if it involves violence and loss. Or maybe it’s just director Martin McDonagh having his usual brilliant, chaotic fun with great characters, some violence and a cool political subtext. He’s known for movies like Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri… maybe this one should be called The Five Fingers of Inisherin? 

Decision to Leave is starting at the Tiff Bell Lightbox; The Banshees of Inisherin opens this weekend, check your local listings; and The Good Nurse is now screening on Netflix. 

This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com.