A satirical black comedy, Park Chan-wook’s ‘No Other Choice’ uses humor and absurdity to highlight the human cost of modernization and industrialization. He spins a delicate web of fantasy and reality, taking a paper industry expert Yoo Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) and throwing his world asunder when he loses his job as the paper industry begins automating work that once needed people to do and manage. Before being laid off, Man-su was living an ideal life with his wife Mi-ri (Son Ye-jin), their two children, and two dogs in a wonderful home that he grew up in. Working in a dead-end job while applying to other paper companies, Mi-ri has to return to work while the comfortable life they used to live is slowing disappearing: less meat during meals, their dogs must move with Mi-ri’s parents, the bills are piling up unpaid. Man-su then plans to take extreme action to get back to a high paying job at a new paper company that has broken into the Japanese market and is willing to murder his competition for the post.

Park Chan-wook is a fabulous director able to marry the conventions of comedy, suspense, and even absurdism into one cohesive whole. He jumps through various genres to keep the energy of the film rolling while we are laughing at the extremities of Man-su’s predicament and horrified by the lengths at which he’d go to protect his way of life.

He even goes so far as to create a fake company looking for applicants with the same qualifications as his own, just to find out who his strongest competitors are for the post at the new paper company.

Man-su begins stalking each of them to find out how best to eradicate them from the competition. But since Man-su is not a killer, and the people who he follows are either hilariously situated in life, like Beom-mo (Lee Sung-min) and his wife (Yum Hye-ran), or on the opposite end, in a similar situation as he is, ‘No Other Choice’ brings through so many emotions.

It doesn’t help that Son Ye-jin is an incredible actress, and Park Chan-wook also gives her some incredible moments that include fending off her boss at work (Yoo Yeon-seok), who obviously likes her, while wondering where her husband is off to at all hours of the day and night.

Her own fears and suspicions lead her to her own dark conclusions and those also of their son while it triggers their young daughter who is special in her own right.

Park Chan-wook uses the full range of cinematic techniques to create vivid imagery that really elicits the emotions he wants to push in the film. Wonderful visually comedy that works hand-in-hand with the quick editing to induce humor in moments that lead to violence.

Even the violence is funny. He manages to find humor in desperation all because there are solutions that are available, but his characters are so stuck in their old ways, their old way of living to truly embrace the change. 

What he ultimately delivers is creating a powerful commentary on a capitalist world that favours having things, equating a good life with the things that money can buy, and thus allows us to laugh at Man-su and his dark road to a “better life” while still empathizing with him because we all are aware of the truth behind the seductive world of a capitalist society. There’s also a huge depiction of how modernization and industrialization are completely removing the human element, rendering us – and experts in their field – non-essential.

‘No Other Choice’ is a brilliant piece of work from the director behind such powerful films as ‘Old Boy,’ ‘The Handmaiden,’ and ‘Decision to Leave.’ I loved all those films, but I have to say that ‘No Other Choice’ might just be my favourite Park Chan-wook film as of the moment, for its precision and its deftness at juggling multiple genres and turning it into an enjoyable film with a strong punch.

My Rating:

Don’t miss Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice, a sharp, hilarious, and haunting look at the cost of ambition in a modern world. Check showtimes and buy tickets here.