Park Chan-wook you’ve done it again.
A veteran worker at a paper factory has it all. A wife, two children, two dogs, two cars, his family home. But when it is all suddenly threatened, he sees no other choice but to take extreme measures to protect his family.
Director Park Chan-wook is most familiar to cinephiles as the creator of The Handmaiden, 2003’s Oldboy (not the hideous American remake) and the Snowpiercer film. No Other Choice joins this prestigious volume of work. Starring Lee Byung-hun (Netflix’s Squid Game, I Saw the Devil) Son Ye-jin, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, and Park Hee-soon.
I do hold Oldboy in very high regard, so comparison might not be fair. No Other Choice is still a unique experience, full of the director’s quirky and dark trademarks.
The story follows Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) and we see he has everything. He even says as much, during a beautiful day, surrounded by his family. It is an idyllic paradise that he and his wife Miri (Son Ye-jiin) have created. But then, he is made redundant by his work. Now, facing years of unemployment and possibly losing everything he spent two decades building… Man-su becomes desperate.
He wants his old job back. There’s competition for jobs. Maybe there could be… less competition?
No Other Choice is a contemporary tale. The modern day plight for generation X and millennials everywhere. Workers who thought they were following their parents’ example of persistent hard work; becoming the best at one particular task, and being rewarded. Yet the world no longer expects that, and they can be tossed away at a moment’s notice. It is relatable, unfortunately. Personally, too.
Man-su’s decision to go on a murder spree to secure his family’s future? Hopefully that is less relatable.
So we follow him and his family as they try to compromise under this new reality. His wife Miri, is extremely supportive. His kids are reluctant but help in their own small ways. Indeed, everything Man-su does is his own psychosis. His classes in self-esteem don’t work. He begs employers to take him. Despite being a capable and kind man, who even supports worker’s unions, the crazed thought enters his mind. What if he offed his competition for a new job?
This is where the high jinks begin. Turns out being Pulp Man of the Year doesn’t make you a good serial killer. It is very funny watching Lee Byung-hun become completely scatterbrained and commit to some old-fashioned slapstick comedy. Especially if you only know him from Squid Game. We do get some good comedic moments here, which are welcome and prevent it from becoming an actual dark thriller movie. But the comedy is relatively subtle; we aren’t talking about laugh-a-minute, slipping on banana peels sort of comedy. More of a black comedy. Alcoholism and adultery are common themes running through the movie.
It is also a beautiful movie. The theme of paper is very prominent. Park Chan-wook has put a great deal of wood motifs everywhere. Coupled with Man-su’s greenhouse and bonsai trees. The screen is very richly coloured and framed. The performances are all excellent; could not really fault any of the actors or the casting.
It wouldn’t be a Park Chan-wook film without some grisly features, though. While it might have levity, it is still a movie about a man briefly losing his mind and looking to kill people. There is always that one scene that sticks with you. If you have seen his films and this one, you know which scene I am referring to. Also, you have to have some experimental dentistry in there; it is like the law now or something. Shudder.
Even this, the gory takedowns of potential job candidates, is relevant to contemporary life. No, we don’t actively plan to drop plant pots on our opponents, but it is what redundancies in work places can do to people. You are against your colleagues. You need to be on top. Man-su’s struggles only increase as he starts to empathise with his targets. They are, after all, in the same business and the same situation. Their lives start to imprint on his own as he clumsily stalks them for days and days.
It is a good movie from start to end. The ending is suitably befitting of its director’s style, and sticks with you. The film is clever and keeps you guessing what is about to happen. It perhaps feels a little long? There is a lot of back-and-forth; the middle of the movie isn’t quite as razor-focused as one might be expecting. But this feeling could be expelled with a second viewing.
Overall, an excellent movie. If you enjoy the director’s work, or simply want a “sane man goes off the rails due to modern life pressures” story, you can’t go wrong.
