Culture
‘No Other Choice’: When finding the right job is murder
By: Gordon Briggs
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Yesterday, Man-su was a gainfully employed factory worker with a wife, a house, and a family.
But now he’s been fired.
Out of work for months, Man-su is desperate for work. In fact, he’s so desperate for a good job, he’s willing to kill for one.
That’s the premise behind No Other Choice, a dark comedy by Park Chan-wook that explores capitalism, masculinity, and how far one man will go to survive in today’s economy.
Here we follow Man-su, a 50-year-old paper factory worker who was laid off after 25 years.
Desperate to maintain his family’s lifestyle, he descends into an often chaotic, sometimes amateurish plot to murder competitors for a new job.
I wouldn’t dare spoil how Man-su ensnares and dispatches all his career competition, but each murder is filled with just the right amount of nuance that we have sympathy for Man-su even as he’s killing innocent people. Specifically, the movie focuses on violence where both the aggressor and the victim suffer.
No Other Choice has a memorable scene where Man-su must shoot someone, and you feel sorry for both Man-su and his victim.
The film rejects the “beautifully choreographed” style of typical action films in favor of a “messy” realism that highlights the grueling nature of taking a human life.
Visually, the film is very interested in plants, trees, and gardens. That may seem like an odd choice, but the cutting, chopping, and transforming of plants into paper mirrors the cutting, chopping, and burying of Man-su will have to do for his victims.
Similar to the director’s other work (Oldboy 2003; Handmaiden 2016; Decision to Leave 2022), this film blends graphic, sometimes exaggerated violence with touches of humor to explore characters trapped by circumstances and fighting for self-determination.
If there’s a tiny gripe, it is that its critique of capitalism is as subtle as a sledgehammer, and its critiques of AI feel at the surface level. Still, that’s a small complaint in an otherwise enjoyable thriller.★★★1/2