Celebrated South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook has created a clever, ambitious, sometimes-stinging satire on the ever-growing class divide and how one man will stop at nothing to make sure his family continues to live in the manner in which they’re accustomed.
No Other Choice is South Korea’s International Feature Oscar submission, the second time a Chan-wook film has been submitted. Decision to Leave made the short list in 2022.
Read my International Feature Oscar Submission Analysis HERE.
The director’s career spans three decades and his much acclaimed, award-winning oeuvre includes, Oldboy (2003), Lady Vengeance (2005), Thirst (2009) and The Handmaiden(2016). He also produced Snowpiercer (2013).
Chan-wook has been wanting to adapt the 1970s Donald E. Westlake novel The Ax, into a film for a long time and first wrote the screenplay in English but as the development process continued, and he was able to secure Squid Game star Lee Byung-hun, the film was re-conceived in Korean. The actor and director had worked together twice before.
The film centers on upper-middle-class, paper-manufacturing plant employee, Man-su (a wildly irreverent Lee Byung-hu) who is fired by the new American owners who use, “no other choice,” as their excuse. Man-su is unable to find work and the family is forced to downsize, much to their dismay. His wife, Miri (Son Yejin), gets a job as a dental assistant and steps in and decides they must also sell his childhood home. Man-su refuses and decides to take extreme measures to secure the next A-list job at the best paper factory. And things get outrageously absurd and horrific from there.
The film delves into how AI is destroying job opportunities for actual humans and makes a case for the little man taking matters into his own hands, within the system.
No Other Choice premiered at this year’s Venice International Film Festival and is being released by Neon in select theaters Christmas Day and everywhere in January 2026.
The Contending had a video chat with the filmmaker about his latest work.
