No Other Choice Eojjeolsugaeopda

Synopsis

Dark comedy meets despair in Park Chan-wook’s latest thriller satirizing the social pressure and shrinking industries facing today’s workers in South Korea and beyond. Squid Game’s Lee Byung-hun stars as Man-soo, a long-time Solar Paper employee whose sense of self is imperiled after he abruptly loses his job.

Terrified that the trappings of success—professional recognition, handsome home, loving family—will slip from his grasp, he searches for a new role as bills begin piling up. At his wit’s end, he hatches a scheme to identify, then eliminate, his competition for the last remaining position in specialty papers. With mounting absurdity and desperation, Man-soo lures his rivals into his deadly trap using the empty promise of employment in their all-but-obsolete industry, convincing himself at every turn of the truth behind the film’s title: that he has no other choice.

Brought to life by Park’s singular talent for masterfully depicting the bleakest situations, the director’s latest is further animated by a compelling turn from his leading man that is equal parts heartbreaking and unhinged.