The first thing Man-su loses after his job is the Netflix subscription. The film No Other Choice by Park Chan-wook contains a small comedic element which has remained in my mind since I first watched it. Household budget cuts operate as a brutal system which shows families their most important expenses before revealing their unnecessary costs. The streaming goes. Then the dogs get rehomed. Then the house itself, the one Man-su grew up in and fought to buy back, goes on the market. The process of sacrifice requires each person to experience a small death which occurs before they begin the actual process of killing.
Because Man-su, played by Lee Byung-hun with the desperate energy of a man who has staked his entire identity on a job title, decides the most efficient path back to employment is murder. The paper mill employee spent twenty-five years at his job before an American company took over and forced him into retirement. The support group meeting shows him watching unemployed men at the group who repeat affirmations about their good nature but he displays his skepticism through his facial expressions. He creates a deceptive job advertisement to obtain resumes from his business rivals before he identifies his four most competent competitors and starts working to remove them from contention. "Our family is in a war," he tells himself. The market operates through a perfect logical system which becomes visible when you decide to disregard its specific elements.
Park has been trying to adapt Donald Westlake's 1997 novel The Ax for nearly two decades, and you can feel both the patience and the impatience in the finished film. The setup is immaculate. The first scenes show Man-su living a happy life with his family during a backyard barbecue which makes it clear what he will lose when the story begins. Son Ye-jin portrays Miri who demonstrates both useful qualities and intense love for her husband. His daughter is a gifted cellist. The house sits in sunlight like something from a property brochure. "I've got it all," Man-su says, which in film grammar is the same as saying "I'm about to have nothing."
The film loses its direction when it shows the actual executions according to my perspective. The film uses slapstick comedy as its main comedic element which results in an exhausting viewing experience because of its inconsistent tone. A murder scene shows a person slipping in mud while being bitten by a snake before an enraged female victim draws her firearm. The concept shows originality in its design. The story's emotional core receives no benefit from this element.
Lee Byung-hun is extraordinary throughout, all flop sweat and forced smiles, but the victims are drawn so broadly that you never feel the weight of what Man-su is doing.
They are twisted creatures which do not resemble human beings. This makes the satire land more easily but robs the violence of consequence. The film's portrayal of capitalist dehumanization loses its impact because the main character displays no respect for his victims before their deaths.
The cinematography by Kim Woo-hyung is frequently stunning. The film preserves your confusion through Park's use of reflective shots and unexpected camera angles and his depiction of sunlight as a double-edged element which creates advantages and causes damage. The same light that bathes Man-su's home in the opening reappears later, magnified through office glass, to blind him during a disastrous job interview. The film is full of such visual rhymes.
The story shows a path which goes past its present boundaries to demonstrate how AI technology and automation will eliminate human employment. The images produce a strong effect because they conclude with a powerful message. The film reaches its climax after two hours of escalating destructive chaos but I doubt the story has established the right mood for this transition. The author Park wants to present both the carnival and tragic elements yet the transition between them remains visible.
Still, there's real pleasure in watching a filmmaker this skilled work through material this timely. People face an actual reality about their employment fate because their work positions have vanished from existence. No Other Choice knows this. The movie fails to determine its level of commitment toward its core storyline.
