A withering corporate satire forms the backbone of Park Chan-wook’s new film which is replete with the bravura set pieces for which he’s known. Man-soo (Korean superstar Lee Byung-hun) has it all—great job, wife, two kids, two dogs—until the paper corporation he works for lays him off. When a new job doesn’t manifest after several months and his fantastic life begins to crumble, he arrives at a radical solution to beat the competition. Cue the elegantly devised macabre sequences that Park is known for in films like Oldboy (2003) and Decision to Leave(2022). The difference here is comedic: Unlike some of the filmmaker’s other protagonists, Man-soo is no natural-born killer, just an ambitious businessman willing to do whatever it takes—no matter how extreme—to reclaim his comfortable life. Adapted from Donald E. Westlake’s The Ax, No Other Choice builds to a conclusion that is chillingly of the present moment. —Rod Armstrong
Park Chan-Wook
Since making his directorial debut with The Moon Is… The Sun’s Dream (1992), Park Chan-wook has become one of South Korea’s most celebrated auteurs. Among his works are Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), winner of Best Asian Film Award at Fantasia Film Festival; Oldboy (2003), which garnered Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes; Lady Vengeance (2005), winner of three awards at the Venice Film Festival, including the Little Golden Lion; Thirst (2009), winner of Cannes’ Jury Prize; and Decision to Leave (2022), for which he was awarded Best Director at Cannes.