One of the most talked-about films of the moment has arrived at the Venice Film Festival. “No Other Choice,” the black comedy by the famous director Park Chan-wook – author of “Oldboy” and “The Handmaiden” – has been described by critics as “deliriously entertaining” and one of the main candidates for international success, just like Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” in 2019.
A dark comedy about economic anxiety
The film tells the story of You Man-su (played by Lee Byung-hun, known for Squid Game), a factory worker who loses his job after 25 years when the company is taken over by American owners. After a series of humiliations and failures to find work, he devises an absurd plan: to physically eliminate every candidate who could get his dream job.
From social drama to black farce
Park Chan-wook turns Donald E. Westlake’s novel The Axe (1997) into a powerful tragicomedy, full of satire and black humor. The scenes alternate between pain, humor and the grotesque – from ridiculous meetings with motivational slogans to failed assassinations that turn into farces. A particular episode, when loud music prevents the victim and the killer from hearing each other, has been called one of the film’s most comical moments.
A painful but humane film
Critics point out that this is Park's most tender and humane film to date, despite the violence and grotesqueness. He manages to tell a story where humor, irony, and absurdity intertwine with the bitter reality of economic anxiety and the destruction of middle-class dreams.
"No Other Choice" is being seen as one of the greatest masterpieces of South Korean cinema and one of the most serious contenders for global success, being compared to the Oscar phenomenon, Parasite.
