A review of the new Korean film “No Other Choice”
From the Korean director of the infamous “Old Boy”, Park Chan-wook’s latest film will not be to everyone’s taste since this surreal black comedy is a tale of mayhem and murder, but it is done with some style and poses a challenging social problem: what do we do when traditional industries – in this case, paper-making – embrace robotics and artificial intelligence to such an extent that almost all the staff are ‘let go’?
In the case of the redundant middle-manager played by Lee Byung-hun, he decides to enhance his chances of re-employment by eliminating his major competitors in the jobs market, but killing them and disposing of the evidence comes with problems in this deliciously entertaining, though rather overlong, macabre story.
Note: The film is an adaptation of a 1997 novel called “The Ax” written by American author Donald E Westlake. It was previously adapted for the screen in 2005 by the Greek-French filmmaker Costa-Gavras to whom the Korean film is dedicated.