No Other Choice
One of my favorite parts of Park Chan-Wook’s “No Other Choice” is how it shows an ordinary man attempting crimes and violence badly. Some parts of Man-Su’s plan he’s able to pull off reasonably successfully, but when it comes to the actual violence, he’s not exactly a professional hit man. Even when he moves through each of his targets, his technique doesn’t exactly get cleaner- he’s thrown new challenges each time.
In adapting the novel, The Ax, by Donald Westlake (something he’s wanted to do since 2009), Park is looking to make a sharp social satire about the challenges of the modern work market. The fact that it took 16 years only added to the relevance of his vision. The screenplay he wrote with Lee Kyoung-mi, Jahye Lee and Don McKellar has its larger ideas- along with the personal story at its center- in perfect synchronicity. I’ve been a fan of the filmmakers since I first watched “Oldboy,” but this might be the first of his films that I feel as though I’d be able to watch over and over. This is a great piece of filmmaking.
We begin with Man-Su (Lee Byung-hun) practicing a speech he hopes to give to the executives who have just bought the paper making company he works at, and are looking to lay off people. He doesn’t get the chance to, and he is one of the ones laid off. Cut to three months later. The job market has been difficult for him. He’s had other interviews at other paper companies, but the competition is tough. His wife, Miri (Son Ye-jin), is going back to work part-time, but his severance pay is running out. They might have to move out of their house- which is his childhood home- and into an apartment. Why hasn’t he broadened his job search? Have you seen the job market out there? On top of which, after 25 years, it’s hard to break away from the only thing you know. One day, he comes up with an idea to get ahead of the competition. It’s fairly unorthodox, but sometimes, you have no other choice.
Fundamental to us getting on board with the premise of “No Other Choice” is us getting on board with the family we’re following. We like Man-Su and Miri as a couple, and we empathize with their predicament. All the while they have a teenage son (Woo Seung Kim) whom might be starting to fall in with the wrong friends, and a daughter (So Yul Choi) who is non-communicative, but has an outlet playing cello (although she doesn’t practice in front of the family). Man-Su’s choices may be morally reprehensible, but we understand the logic he uses in making them. And when it comes to execution, we see that maybe he’s not quite as up to this as he thinks he is. He’s a human being, not a sociopath, and some of the most entertaining parts of Park’s film is when Man-Su is trying to hold his plan together, and he runs the risk of sticking his neck out too far to get it done. Lee gives a terrific, multifaceted performance playing Man-Su’s anguish, anxiety, and the dark humor when he tries to put his plan in motion. And as Miri, Son has a tricky role that she lands beautifully, especially when it seems like she might discover the truth about Lee. “No Other Choice” is a filmmaker working at the peak of his craft, and creating something devious, delightful, and painfully honest about life in the process, all the way to a final shot that illustrates how cold the need to get past people for a job can be.
