No Other Choice
Man-su (Lee Byung-hun, "Joint Security Area," "Emergency Declaration") has been a manager at a paper company for twenty-five years and it has afforded him a nice life. He shares a unique home with his wife Miri (Son Ye-jin), son Si-one (Kim Woo Seung) and young daughter Ri-one (Choi So Yul) along with their golden retrievers Si-two and Ri-two where he has built a spacious greenhouse on the side to nurture his many plants and bonsai hobby. But when his company is bought out by an American concern and he is abruptly laid off, Man-su struggles to find equivalent work and so, honing in on a potential position with another paper company, decides to target others who will be vying for the job. He reasons he has "No Other Choice."
Laura's Review: B+
Cowriter (with Lee Kyoung-mi, Jahye Lee and Don McKellar)/director Park Chan-wook ("The Handmaiden," "Decision to Leave") is the second to adapt Donald Westlake's 'The Ax' after Costa-Gavras's 2009 'Le Couperet,' and he's created a deliciously dark satire that is highly amusing while packing a socioeconomic punch. Park scatters all kinds of bread crumbs around, following their trails back to astounding ends.
When we first meet Man-su, he's grilling eel, a Korean delicacy gifted to him by Solar Paper in recognition of his work, a confidence booster before an unexpected fall. It's his wife's birthday and he delights her with a pair of expensive dancing shoes which will trot right back into Park's plot
later on. But his whole world is about to be turned upside down and when he learns that he is part of a 20% cut and protests to one of the company's new owners, he's brushed off with the words that they had 'no other choice.'
At first it seems like things will be OK, Miri economizing in small ways, but after months go by they find themselves facing foreclosure on the home Man-su was so proud to have purchased while the kids feel terrorized by Netflix being cancelled and the family dogs being shipped off to their grandparents. Having been in the workplace for so long, the man is out of practice with the interviewing process, nervous and completely thrown off kilter by the current standard query to define one's 'weak point.' Desperate, he begs the successful Sun-chul (Park Hee-Soon) for a job only to be humiliated. When he and Miri see the man later on TV, Miri wonders why he couldn't be struck by lightning. A seed has been sown and Man-nu begins to strategize differently, assembling head shots of his out-of-work competitors and arranging them in order of hireability. He places himself third. Then he creates a fake company, Red Copper Paper, as bait for numbers one and two.
The first, Bummo (Lee Sung-min), spends most of his time drinking now, much to the annoyance of his histrionic wife Ara (Yeom Hye-ran), an actress whose own career has had a downturn and who comes across Man-su when he tumbles out of the woods outside their home with a snake bite. Things get more surreal when he attempts to converse with Bummo over the man's blaring stereo and his gun becomes the object of a three-way fumble, shot from above by cinematographer Kim Woo-hyung the better to observe those bobbing backsides.
He finds his second target, Sijo (Cha Seung-won), working as a shoe store salesman and Man-su's murderous plans will once again go horribly awry, his personal life also becoming affected when they conflict with the big costume dance Miri's been looking forward to, a dance he arrives late at only to find her with the dentist, Jin Ho (Yoo Yeon Seok), she's begun working for and who Man-su is so jealous of, he won't allow the guy to fix the tooth that's been ailing him. All of these things will work out, Man-su's bonsai hobby coming into play in a rather gruesome way, Miri becoming a co-conspirator.
Lee Byung-hun shoulders the film, his confidence turning into desperation which leads to some exquisite physical comedy. Son Ye-jin is the wife whose sweetness turns sour along with her financial status, her mood brightening when she realizes what lengths her partner has gone to to turn things around. As with Park's last, "Decision to Leave," some transitions from one scene to the next can be jarring, leaving us scrambling to get our bearings. Park's imagery is often elegant, rural roads snaking through autumnal trees, a glass of whiskey offering a point of view. And if the themes of his film have been strong all along, the last, closing credits scene is a knock-out, a portrait of a man clinging to obsoletion.
Robin's Review: B
Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) has spent his professional career working for a single paper company. That is until a merger, which means a reduction in work force, and Man-su has to hit the bricks to find a new employer. Weeks turn to months and then turn to years and still no job. Drastic measures become necessary for the man who has “No Other Choice.”
I have always been a firm believer that one always a choice. Here, though, director Park Chan-wook makes the case, with Man-su as his hapless victim of the system, that the steadily building fear and exasperation actually gives the man no choice but to make the decision he does.
The story is adapted from the novel The Ax by Donald E Westlake in a slow burn as the tale of woe gradually unfolds. Man-su, once unemployed, diligently looks for another job. He attends the pep sessions provided by HR and faithfully follows the precept that he will find a new job in three months or less. That, it turns out, is definitely not the case.
The family lifestyle begins to suffer as they are forced to tighten their belts. First, they have to give up Netflix to cut costs, then tennis lessons and his wife, Miri (Son Ye-jin), must take a part time job, then two. Months are now years and Miri’s car is put on the sales block and their house and their future is in jeopardy.
Man-su’s desperation becomes dire and he hatches a plan to get a job. It is simple: identify the competition and eliminate them – with all means available. It becomes a case of “what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive.” And, boy, does Man-su weave a tangled web.
While this is not the director’s best work – that would be, in my mind, “The Handmaiden (2016)” – it is an intriguing look into the insecurity that has become life in modern times, with a South Kore
Neon releases "No Other Choice" on IMAX screens on 12/8/25 before opening in select theaters on 12/25/25, expanding into 2026.
