No Other Choice

This is sharp, merciless filmmaking that finds the comedy in desperation and absurdity in survival. The South Koreans understand something essential about dark comedy: the most horrifying truths become bearable only when delivered with a wink and a knife. No Other Choice takes aim at the particular hell of middle management in late stage capitalism, and the result is as savage as it is hilarious. Middle managers occupy the most absurd position in the corporate hierarchy; they have just enough authority to be blamed for everything and just enough powerlessness to fix nothing. They're the shock absorbers between labor and capital, tasked with translating executive sociopathy into palatable directives while absorbing worker rage, all while pretending the system makes sense. They're complicit and exploited simultaneously, grinding themselves down to please people who view them as disp…

Sadly for “Man-su” (Lee Byung-hun) being pulp man of the year doesn’t guarantee your future in the paper industry, and when modernisation costs him his job he has to find another one. With a house, his wife, two children and two dogs to keep he can’t be out of work for long, but he quickly realises that nobody needs his skills anymore. He tries his hand at a few more menial jobs but when “Miri” (Son Ye-jin) announces over the dinner table that she's taken a part time job; that they are going to have to economise and sell the home he had lived in as a child, he finds himself galvanised to act. He realises that he has competitors for any jobs that come up, so he quite cleverly embarks on a scheme that has shades of “Kind Hearts and Coronets” (1949) to it. He establishes who his four most likely opponents would be and then sets about ensuring that, well let’s just say that he develops quite…

They say that “Imitation is the highest form of flattery,” and, arguably, that might be true – but only when the imitation works. When it doesn’t, the result is more of a pale wannabe clone, and that’s precisely the problem with this latest release from writer-director Park Chan-wook. This dark comedy essentially seeks to be this year’s equivalent to the Oscar-winning South Korean offering “Parasite” (“Gisaengchung”) (2019) from filmmaker Bong Joon-ho. But, try as it might, “No Other Choice” is no “Parasite” – not by a long shot. The edgy humor that made this film’s predecessor successful was grounded in its skillful handling, knowing just how far to push the bounds of propriety and absurdity without going overboard while still being able to evoke nervous but genuinely earned laughs from viewers. This picture, however, tries way too hard to produce those chuckles, sometimes crossing the …

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://fandomwire.com/no-other-choice-review/ "No Other Choice proves to be a fantastic piece of art with superb tonal control and dedicated performances that solidify Park Chan-wook's return to the style that defines him. It's a painfully entertaining analysis of a man driven to madness by corporate greed and social pressure, and a courageous, violent, hysterical look at how dysfunctional our world has become. In the end, the film isn't just about a man who lost his job but a voracious critique of the madness of a system that teaches us to kill the rivalry, literally or figuratively, and the human cost of that survival game." Rating: A-…