No Other Choice is a black comedy/thriller Korean film from the director Park Chan-wook. Park Chan-wook is a critically acclaimed director having made multiple beloved films, including Thirst(2009), The Handmaiden(2019), and the Vengeance movies, which notably include Oldboy(2003). I have seen all of his movies, and each has at least been great, if not fantastic. No Other Choice continues this trend, another extremely entertaining and interesting movie in Park Chan-wook’s lineup.
No Other Choice follows Yoo Man-su, someone who was just laid off after working for a company for 25 years. Forced back into the Korean job market, which is going through a record high unemployment rate, Yoo Man-su turns to killing other job applicants for a manager role at a new company in order to put himself ahead. As the movie goes on, Yoo Man-su struggles with his actions, and his family starts to catch on to something being off about him. The darkly comedic tone and immoral actions of the protagonist are balanced with the real stakes of the actions of the main character, and moments of comedy are very in line with the type of movies Park Chan-wook creates. The movie is actually based on a book, The Ax(1997), written by American author Donald E. Westlake. It keeps many of the same darkly comedic elements, but focuses more on being a suspenseful horror rather than a black comedy.
The movie was a success at the box office. The movie’s budget was roughly $11.7 million, and it earned $38 million dollars worldwide. With $10 million dollars earned domestically and $27 million dollars earned internationally, the film more than made its production cost back and then some.
A common theme in all of Park Chan-wook’s movies is the protagonist being so obsessed with their goal that they destroy their own life and often the lives of those around them. In No Other Choice, Yoo Man-su breaks down every familial relationship he has on his deranged quest to get the job he wants, as well as his own mental state. Similarly, in Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, the protagonist suffers from the moral ambiguity of her actions. Vengeance is a prominent theme in all of Park Chan-wook’s movies, but instead of vengeance being directed at a singular antagonist like in most of his movies, No Other Choice has that vengeance directed at the system of capitalism that put Yoo Man-su on his path. Unfortunately for the audience, or just me, teeth often make an appearance in his movies, often involving pliers of some kind. If you don’t like a bit of well done gore, I would avoid these movies as much as you can. All of Park’s movies have a bit of levity and humor to them, which makes the darker themes more effective by contrast. The humor in No Other Choice, however, takes center stage with its black comedy, often showcasing how ridiculous the situation of an average factory manager stumbling around trying to silently follow one of his competitors.
A black comedy is hard to define, partly because humor is so subjective. I would say movies like American Psycho(2000) and In Bruges(2008) both fall under that category, right with No Other Choice. In Burge is more of an outright comedy, with set ups and payoffs for its jokes, the bottle scene coming to mind. American Psycho and No Other Choice more focuses on the ridiculousness of the main characters acting in a social setting, trying to blend in and remain calm after committing murder moments ago.. All of these movies feature main characters that follow protagonists who are “bad people”, or people that you wouldn’t necessarily like. They could even be the villains of the story if viewed from another perspective. Unlike other movies in the genre, Park Chan-wook takes a different approach. While similarly bleak, with the protagonists committing very questionable acts such as murder, stealing, and cheating, to name a few, Yoo Man-su has an understandable motivation, often missing in these movies. He cares deeply for his family, and wants them to be able to maintain their upper middle class way of life as much as possible, to the point it drives him to systematically hunt down those he views as competition for a job application. In that sense, Yoo Man-su has a heart that many other characters in the genre lack.
The biggest message of this film is the struggle that many people experience under capitalism. A person can give over a quarter of their life, as shown in the movie, but in order for a company to meet its bottom line, a person can be let go, despite the work and labor they have dedicated to the company. This is a critique of the system that values greed and aids those already in powermore than the average working person. While most of us can cope with getting fired without murdering people, that feeling of rejection by the system is more than relatable to most people.
Another notable theme is the idea of a fresh start. Yoo Man-su works at a paper company before he is let go, and the blank piece of paper symbolizes himself. “Paper is my life.” is something he says several times throughout the film, being unable to let go and move on to a new point in life despite the suggestions from his loved ones. He is unable to start over, believing his fresh start is back in the paper industry that cut him out.
The feeling of helplessness under capitalism is a very strong one, especially with the younger generation. The movie makes it clear that it is for anyone who has struggled financially due to the burden of the competitive job market. Anyone more well off will never experience the stress and pain of suddenly losing the career they have spent their life forging. Online, the job market is portrayed as a joke among fresh college graduates, despite all the knowledge they now carry. The overqualified barista is the butt of many jokes, which is shown in the movie with Yoo Man-su, who, despite carrying a chemical engineering degree, is offered no real job opportunities or laughably poor ones. That feeling of uncertainty is prevalent within college itself, with an emphasis being on being able to network just as much as the coursework itself. That is a major weakness of Yoo Man-su, his inability to understand other people. He believes his hard work, whether it's through murder or not, will earn him his sought after job.
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I think the major stereotype played into is that of the asian provider figures being extremely work motivated person. Culturally, Korea puts an extreme emphasis on loyalty to your superiors and the company as a whole. That stereotype is used to make the main characters understandable at the very least. This stereotypical hard working culture is also shown in parenting styles, the “tiger parent”, which is a strict and demanding parenting style, expecting high performance out of their children. Yoo Man-su and his wife, Lee Mi-ri, exhibit this parenting style with their children. I do believe that the movie is trying to make a point on how the toxic work culture infects households and causes far more harm than supposed good.
No Other Choice, on a technical level, is a masterful work of film. The content of Park Chan-wook’s filmography can understandably be hard to digest due to its subject matter, but no one can argue against the cinematography of his movies. Shots are often complex, with the camera reflecting off mirrors or windows to still clearly capture the actor's emotions. Colors are vibrant in the movie, popping off the screen while not being overwhelming. The score by Cho Young-wuk features many acoustic and energetic beats that complement the movie excellently.
While the story takes itself seriously, that does cause the humor to fall short at times. There are plenty of darkly comedic situations, like Yoo Man-su frantically reburying an apple tree to hide both his and his son’s(separate) crimes. However, there are points where the humor is juvenile, including a very stock sound effect fart joke that pulls you out of the movie briefly. Overall, the movie is well made with its characters, cinematography, and music, but falters at points with its runtime and humor. Critics, I would say, largely agree with me on a high rating for this movie, with a 97% from critics. Although many seem to have gotten more out of the humor than I did. John Serba says, “You’re committed to this ride because Park crafts a narrative so dense, so thematically explosive, so darkly comic, you have to watch it all go down. Have to.” Ben Morganti follows up with, “Capitalizing on a myriad of important themes and concepts, No Other Choice might be another modern masterpiece of the 21st century.” I could be a bit more critical of this movie due to Park Chan-wook creating my all time favorite movie, Oldboy, which I believe is not only his greatest movie, but one of the greatest of all time. No other movie has topped the emotional rollercoaster that movie put me through, but No Other Choice is still an amazingly strong showing yet again from Park Chan-wook. Its strong messaging on modern work culture and sense of self value will make this movie a long lasting one in the film community.
Park Chan-wook, as far as I can tell, is not on any major Western social media, so there is not much of an online presence to go off of. He has done interviews, with only a sparing few translated into English. I did find a quote from him that contextualizes his view on the films he creates. “In my films, I focus on pain and fear. The fear just before an act of violence and the pain after. This applies to the perpetrators as well as the victims.” This tells me how purposeful and aware he is as a creator, someone who works with a strict intent. Because of how off putting much of the subjects of his work are, I don’t normally recommend his movies to people unless I know they want to be challenged by what they see. No Other Choice is a much more accessible movie than his others, while still being artful and interesting. I plan on buying the Blu-Ray for it when it comes out and showing it to my friends and family.
No Other Choice is a mesmerizing film that I am glad I got to experience. With the strong themes of suffering under capitalism, the complex, morally questionable actions from the main character, and the fantastically technical aspects of the film, I could strongly recommend the movie to most people. It is not often that I write out my thoughts on movies or games I enjoy, so it was a nice change of pace to do so now. This has been a helpful exercise in actually putting my thoughts on paper, which I plan to do more of in the future for works that I enjoy. I feel as though it is much easier to talk about things you dislike rather than enjoy, as anger and distaste are much easier emotions to vocalize. I think I should learn from both this project and Park Chan-wook’s movies, a subject that should be considered with a more complex range of emotions.
Sources
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_other_choice
https://www.neonrated.com/film/no-other-choice
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0661791/quotes/
https://www.thetriangle.org/article/no-other-choice-the-horror-of-unemployment
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