No Other Choice

If you have looked for a job at any point in the last ten years, you already understand the core of this film. And Park Chan-wook uses that perfectly to deliver his point.

The story follows Man-su and his family, who live a fairly well-off upper-middle-class life while he works at a paper manufacturing company. But the factory is bought by an American corporation that plans to introduce automation and lay off a large number of workers. Man-su is one of them. He takes it as a personal tragedy, but understands that this puts his family at risk. He promises to find a new job soon. That does not happen.

More than a year later, in absolute despair, depression, and something close to a breakdown, after the family has had to sacrifice a lot because there is no longer a stable income, Man-su realizes he is ready to go to an absolute extreme. Not just to get the money back, but to get back his self-respect — because for him, that self-respect was his job. He decides to track down the candidates who are better than him for the position he wants — and he plans to eliminate (kill) them. That’s where his “adventures” begin, leading to multiple twists and very interesting turns.

Shot as a black comedy thriller, the film completely absorbs you. It looks great, the pacing is excellent, and the timing of the harsh and very dark jokes is executed with precision. The main cast does a fantastic job and Lee Byung-hun as the central character is simply outstanding.

This is a sharp and intelligent reflection on modern society — something that concerns any adult today. We live in a world where you don’t know at what moment someone will come for your job, at what point a computer will be needed instead of you. You live in constant fear, in uncertainty about how stable your life actually is. And that drives people insane. Some, like Man-su, truly go insane and begin committing terrible crimes in a kind of rage and desperate attempt to return to something stable.

It’s an interesting allusion to modern hustle culture — probably more applicable to America and some Asian countries than to certain European countries, including the one I’m writing from and have worked in. But the fears and anxieties are shared by all of us, which makes the film quite universal. At times, Park Chan-wook may try to deliver his message or lay his cards on the table a bit too openly, making a point that was already clear. But that does not make the film any less sharp, brutal, and extremely relevant. And I think its relevance will only grow with time.

Because in many ways, this is not just a black comedy and a thriller — it is also a tragedy and a drama. And this blending of genres works very well and feels balanced. On one hand, it’s almost amusing to watch these characters trying to keep up appearances in public while being absolutely miserable in their real lives. On the other, the film shows how important things like image, wealth, and status are for society — and how low people are willing to go to prove something to others, and more importantly, to push away from themselves the thought that they might be failing.

I can’t say that the film leads to some huge, groundbreaking conclusions. But it is definitely necessary cinema. It’s a film everyone who loves movies should watch. You will not regret these two hours of your life.

7/10

Thanks to Gutek Film for the press screening.