Legendary Korean auteur Park Chan-wook is the ultimate master of tone. No other living filmmaker could so elegantly dance the line between bleak, absurd, devastating and slapstick like he does in his 10th feature film and latest masterpiece, “No Other Choice,” a starkly hilarious satire about what it means to try and survive our current capitalist nightmare.
“No Other Choice” is adapted from the 1997 novel “The Ax” by Donald Westlake, about a mid-level employee at a paper company who is laid off and turns to extreme measures in his hunt for a new job. The novel was adapted into French-language film “The Ax” by Costa-Gavras in 2005, and now Park puts his own spin on it with star Lee Byung-hun, who appeared in his breakthrough film “Joint Security Area” in 2000.
Park’s mastery of tone reflects his mastery of cinematic craft, which has only become more surgically refined in the past few years. His achingly romantic 2022 neo-noir “Decision to Leave,” and 2016 erotic thriller “The Handmaiden” reflect that, but the daffy tonal swings and mischievous nature of “No Other Choice” are so deftly rendered on screen as to take your breath away.
The cinematography (by Kim Woo-hyung) and editing (by Kim Ho-bin and Kim Sang-beom) is peerless, and even the scenes featuring cellular communication are intensely and uniquely cinematic (the dissolves are truly something to behold). An inquisitive and often whimsical noir-ish score by Cho Young-wuk trades off with traditional classical pieces, blending mood seamlessly. The rich cinematic storytelling on display in “No Other Choice” is so dense that this could be a silent film and remain not just comprehensible but deeply moving.
At the heart of this satire is a true humanist streak, an empathy for the people caught in this steel trap, thanks to Lee’s stunning performance as Man-su, a husband, father and dedicated professional who is made redundant after an American company buys out the paper factory where he has made his career. The position has afforded him an exceedingly comfortable life: two kids, two golden retrievers, his childhood home, ballroom dance lessons with his beautiful wife Mi-ri (Son Ye-jin). During a bucolic family barbecue, he embraces his family, basking in the sun, asking for “one more minute.” His time was already up.
Man-su is unwilling to accept a menial job stocking boxes, and he struggles to get a job interview, forced to humiliate and prostrate himself before paper executives. Jealously watching a paper influencer on social media, he’s stuck by an idea: why not suss out his competition for the best jobs, and then eliminate them? He places an ad in a trade magazine and waits for the applications to roll in.
Park and Lee meticulously lay out Man-su’s evolution, or devolution, over the course of this painstaking process, a journey that starts out comedic and bumbling, and then twists into horror as he takes to this calling. He’s a skilled engineer and quick on his feet, and he applies those qualities to his desperate mission.
Only Park could take a scene of bungled attempted murder and make it so hilarious — Man-su clad in a suit, rubber waders and an oven mitt — and so devastating. He confronts his potential victim with pleading accusations that could be applied to his own situation: why can’t you listen to your wife and sell this house? Pursue a new career? Get over your own ego? As the situation crumbles into madcap physical comedy, it is still suspenseful, terrifying and entirely unpredictable.
What is predictable is the way this journey chips away at Man-su himself. In his bid for the validation of a career, he lies to his wife, ditches their hobby, loses the trust of his children and abandons what makes him human, the thing he was fighting for in his failed attempt to protect the workers of his factory. When he finally achieves his goal, it’s by submitting himself to the wood chipper of ruthless corporate practice.
Paper is the perfect material for this tale, a representation of the capitalist urge to chew up and spit out, trees made to pulp and paper and then pulped again. The makeup of the physical world feels positively outdated, vintage. Even workers are outmoded in this automated, artificially intelligent world.
Though Man-su grins through it all, Lee’s toothy smile never reaches his eyes, stretched into an expression of agony, never happiness. Lee’s performance is astonishing, and Son matches him word for word, expression for expression. Park and co-writers Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar and Jahye Lee aren’t afraid to make Mi-ri a strong and assertive woman who has her own agency and desires; her sensibility is the perfect foil to Man-su’s deadly quest. If only he had listened to his wife.
Katie Walsh is a critic for Tribune News Service.
“No Other Choice” — 4 stars (out of 4)
MPA rating: R (for violence, language and some sexual content)
Running time: 2:19 (in Korean with English subtitles)
How to watch: In theaters Jan. 16