No Other Choice – Review

As Yoo Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) barbeques expensive eel for his wife Lee Mi-ri (Son Ye-jin) and kids, he looks at the trees in the yard and hopes for fall to turn. His wife compliments how much his business Solar Paper must like him for sending him such pricey seafood, however Man-su jokes that the Americans that sent it just want him to work even harder. His son Si-one complains that it’s not beef, and his daughter Ri-one practices the cello. Mi-ri finds a gift for her also: a nice pair of shoes. She is thrilled. It is a nice and cheerful day and things are looking up!

Back at work, Man-su laments that he built the company up for 25 years and now that new American investors have come in and bought it, they cut 20% of the production line, and asked for people to fire. He is not willing to dump hard working veterans which have worked on the machines for so long. He practices a fiery and metaphorical speech demanding a Union for his people, and to keep their metaphorical gun away from his workers’ heads.

As the American investors arrive to tour the plant, and he rushes to give his speech, via translator. It does not work as the American boss is too ‘busy’ and quickly jumps in a black SUV to zoom away. Stress begins to build as he faces employees losing jobs, and even thinks he may be on the chopping block. Then it happens and he is dumped also. Support groups only do so much and Man-su is not sleeping.

He is the head of his family however, and he is focused on a new start and providing for his family. He knows that in less than three months he can get hired again. These three months later, and he is stocking supplies at a retail store. It is not the fresh beginning that he envisioned. Not only that, but he is fired from this basic job also and stripped of even more dignity, and the dominos keep falling. Ugh.

So, what does one do in a situation like this? As Man-su’s desperation grows, so does his darkly comic and entirely homicidal creativity. When one is pushed to the edge to save his family, can murder be a solution?! As Man-su sets up some ‘fake’ interviews for paper company top executives, things get deadly in strange ways. This will certainly thin the competitive waters and make it easier to secure his own future again… but how will this criminal path affect the lives around him?

Based on a novel, No Other Choice is a darkly comic and murderous story about work, life, money, pride and competition. The plot is sound and the acting brings some great performances to the competently directed film as Park Chan-wook is a veteran of the craft, however the film runs a touch long. Overall it is a high-quality feature, as is usual with this director.

Losing your job isn’t the problem, it’s how you deal with it.