No Other Choice (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – It follows a man who is abruptly laid off by the paper company where he worked tirelessly for many years. He grows increasingly desperate in his hunt for new work, eventually he comes to a certain decision.

My Take – The power of cinema is such it transcends languages and cultures, especially when it molded by the minds of few really creative filmmakers, and for more than two decades, filmmaker Park Chan-Wook has been one of them.

An auteur who has blown cinema fanatics (like myself) away with his exceptionally thrilling Joint Security Area (2000) and Vengeance Trilogy, which includes the controversial Oldboy (2003), the excitingly uncomfortable horror Thirst (2009) and the erotic historical psychological thriller, The Handmaiden (2016).

And since he has proven himself time and time again, I was particularly curious about his latest venture, not just because I was particularly disappointed with his last effort, Decision to Leave (2022), but because how its premise felt uncomfortably close to reality, particularly in the context of the current job market and unemployment levels, and how the story revolves around a laid-off paper man turning bonkers.

Keeping in mind that the film has already become South Korea’s pick for the Best International Feature Film category at next year’s Oscars, it should be unsurprising to know that director Chan-wook, who co-wrote the screenplay with Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar and Lee Ja-hye, has deliver yet another excellent genre-mashing affair, one that indulges in the psychotic fun of his earlier works and the pathos of his more serious projects.

Based on late American author Donald Westlake’s 1997 novel The Ax (which was previously adapted by Costa-Gavras in 2005 and is provided a tribute in the credits), the film is disturbing enough without going too far, and manages to work as a nutty black comedy-drama that is equal parts serious and dangerously entertaining. In fact, it is also the filmmakers’ funniest, angriest, and most ruthlessly clear-eyed assault on capitalism since his earlier films, and it wears all of its spite on its sleeve.

Sure, like his previous efforts, he once again tends to get carried with his subplots a bit and in presenting his understanding of extreme human misbehavior, but make no mistake, this is still a Park Chan-wook film and a top-draw delightful feature filled with details of small ironies within the big ordinary, something which the best of the South Korean filmmakers have always excelled at showcasing.

The story follows Yoo Man-su (Lee Byung-hun), a man who seems to have it all. He’s got a beautiful wife in Lee Mi-ri (Son Ye-jin), a likable teen son in Si-one (Kim Woo-seung), who is actually from her earlier marriage, and an adorable young daughter in Ri-one (Choi So-Yool), a cello prodigy who only speaks to echo others. There are also the two beloved golden retrievers and they all live in Man-su’s childhood home, which he worked hard to buy back and restore. It is a perfect life.

That is until, the new American owners of the paper company he’s worked for over 25 years and even bestowed him with awards, abruptly lays him off. Emasculated, Man-su is determined to find a new job in the paper industry within three months, but thirteen months later, he isn’t even close.

With his severance pay dwindling, the resourceful Mi-ri not just goes back to work at a dental clinic but also cheerfully rationalizes their expenditures, cancelling tennis lessons, their Netflix subscription and their couples’ dance class, and even sending the dogs off to live with her parents. Everything must go, except talented little oddball Ri-one’s cello lessons. But the hardest cut of them: their decision to sell of their house, Man-su was so proud of buying, and features a lovingly hand-built greenhouse where he spends much of his free time.

Hence, when Mi-ri jokingly comments about the demise of Choi Sun-chul (Park Hee-soon), the hotshot manager at a rival paper company who sneered at Man-su when he came begging for work, Man-su is hit with an idea that drops down on him like a plant pot from a balcony. But of course, even if Choi was out of the way, there’d be no guarantee he’d get his position. So Man-su embarks on an elaborate scheme to identify the potential candidates ahead of him in line, so he can off them as well. And as one can guess, none of his projected killings goes according to plan.

Indeed, there is a whole lot of paper-production talk peppering the screenplay, which is honestly rather lovely and sad, but the film fleshes out Man-su’s anxiety with a series of funny subplots and marital mishaps. There are tennis and cello lessons to pay for, Man-su’s raging toothache, a past trauma involving his father and a pig farm, his wife’s possible infidelity with her much-younger boss, and so much more.

All of these aspects mix with the bloody, gruesome hi-jinks that make the narrative feel surprisingly lived-in, despite how unreal the killing spree gets. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still riotously funny with some death scenes staged in such a way that you’ll never forget them.

In fact, Man-su’s first botched murder attempt is a highlight as he ends up in a three-way brawl for a gun, during which the music is blaring so loud that you can’t hear the marital dispute raging during the fracas. It quickly goes from murder to madcap chase scene, highlighting director Chan-wook’s distinct comedic visual flair.

Even his anti-capitalist satire is so effective because he understands the machinery of humiliation. All the chuckles the film generates are acidic because they emerge from a deep-seated recognition. He realizes that losing work can feel like an existential theft. We see colleagues trained to pat you on the back and wish you the best in the moment of layoff. The indignities are mundane and therefore devastating.

It is in its final sequence that the film becomes elevated from psychological study to something philosophical. We get the obvious statement: how much work is being handed over to technological tools, costing the livelihoods of countless people?

Performance wise, Lee Byung-hun is astonishing throughout, bringing a hilarious, memorable turn, managing to transition from the dignity of the executive to the complete disgrace of the amateur assassin with comical conviction. Opposite him, Son Ye-jin too is outstanding as his better moral compass. In other roles, Park Hee-soon, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won, Yoo Yeon-seok and Kim Woo-seung make for an excellent ensemble. On the whole, ‘No Other Choice‘ is an absurdly brilliant black comedy that is equally funny and gut-wrenching.