PR in the Philippines

(SeaPRwire) –   You can’t have a serious conversation about the top active film directors without mentioning Park Chan-wook. From his global breakthrough with Oldboy to acclaimed works like The Handmaiden and Decision to Leave, Park has cemented his status as a contemporary master of thrillers—though, of course, few of his films fit neatly into just one genre. While they often include elements of murder, chaos, or suspense, Park’s movies also have a sharp, biting sense of humor. His newest release, No Other Choice, is no different.

In characteristically unexpected fashion, Park’s latest film is based on a novel by Donald E. Westlake, the mid-20th century American pulp writer whose work also inspired the nihilistic crime classic Point Blank (which Inverse highlighted earlier this week). The Ax was first published in 1997 and had already been turned into a film by French director Costa-Gavras when Park acquired the rights way back in 2009. Given all that, it’s striking how perfectly No Other Choice resonates with our current dystopian late-capitalist era.

Park sets the story in present-day South Korea, where Yoo Man-su (played by Lee Byung-hun), a long-time company employee, is suddenly fired after decades of service. Man-su fights to find another job in the paper industry, and 13 months later, he’s reduced to pleading for work from a former subordinate at Moon Paper—the only paper company in the area (and, to the desperate Man-su, seemingly the world) that’s actually hiring.

His begging gets him nowhere, but the experience sparks an idea: his field is highly specialized, so only a small number of people are truly qualified for the job Man-su thinks should be his. In fact, there are just three—including the current manager. If all of them were to vanish mysteriously around the same time, well, the company would have—wait for it—no other choice but to hire Man-su.

That way, he won’t lose the family home he repurchased after his parents were forced to sell it during their own financial hardship. He won’t have to pull his daughter—whom everyone calls a prodigy—out of her pricey cello lessons, ruining her potential. He’ll even be able to bring back the family dogs, which he sent to live with his wife’s parents when dog food became too expensive.

One of the most intriguing aspects of No Other Choice is how it portrays Man-su’s decisions as both relatable and absurd, neither justifying nor criticizing the killing spree he sees as his only way to get his life back on track. Mostly, the film uses this spree as material for pitch-black humor—like a scene where Man-su, his intended victim, and the victim’s wife all tussle over the same handgun: Man-su wants to kill the man for his job, but the couple is also trying to murder each other.

All of this is presented through Park’s opulently sensory style, offering viewers absurd yet undeniable delights—like a shot taken from inside the glass as a character takes their first drink after nine years of being sober. It’s the kind of daring choice only a master filmmaker like Park can pull off, driven by anger that feels extremely relevant (this April, Disney and Meta cut thousands of jobs, including Disney’s entire home video division) and universal.

That last point is a bit somber, but it comes straight from Park: “Whenever I told people about the story, no matter their time period or country, they always said how relatable it was,” the director told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview last fall. That relatability might not be specific to layoffs, though—it’s about the fear of losing one’s place in society and everything that comes with it.

Turning into a serial killer because you can’t stand the humiliation of filling out your job history when you already uploaded your resume to the portal might be over the top, but every job seeker has felt a hint of that same emotion at some point. So even if you’re not already a fan of Park Chan-wook or Lee Byung-hun (and you might be—he’s one of South Korea’s most well-known actors, appearing in everything from Squid Game to the G.I. Joe films), give No Other Choice a try. You might find it surprisingly cathartic.

No Other Choice is now available to stream on Hulu.