How often do you find yourself projecting your thoughts towards the extremities? As though there is no other choice besides the one you must take.

South Korean filmmaker Park Chan Wook is known for his approach to show the absurdities of human psychology in his films such as ‘Oldboy’, ‘The Handmaiden’, and ‘Decision to Leave’.

In ‘No Other Choice’, his latest, he masterfully adapts ‘The Axe’, a novel by Donald E Westlake, capturing the crime-thriller essence of the story, underlined by the subtle, inevitable sarcasm about human life.

In the movie, Yoo Man-Soo (Lee Byung-hun) tackles his 25 years of hard work being flushed down in the bidding of the paper company that he worked in, compelling him to leave the job, sell his car, and even cancel his Netflix subscription. Man-soo goes on a hunt for a new job, provoking himself to make choices like no other.

The societal and cultural stigma around unemployment breeds scarcity in Man-soo, eroding his self-worth and sanity. In this competitive world, it quickly becomes clear that he is not alone in this struggle. Everyone is just like him, struggling to get a job.

So, he makes a choice—eliminating his opponents from the race of life itself. “Violence has always had an important role in terms of the history of mankind as a whole and in the lives of individuals as well. And you need to face violence to understand how mankind works. You can’t turn away,” says Park in an interview with TIME.

The unique complexity of relationships is one of the movie’s appealing aspects. Regardless of how far Man-soo goes to get a job, viewers are unlikely to consider him a villain, as empathy for survival resonates with every living being. The tragic flow nimbles in the minds of the viewers as Man-soo becomes vulnerable in the absence of stability for his family. Yoo Mi-ri (Son Ye-jin), wife of Man-soo, juggles her nurturing responsibilities and conscious choices to support her husband, creating questionable dynamics in their relationship.

This also makes Mi-ri one of the few characters in the movie who seems to have a choice. Son Ye-jin is a widely celebrated actress for her versatile acting career and takes a step forward in this recognition through this role.

“It is not the fact that you are unemployed, but how you deal with it,” a dialogue said by Ah-ra, whose husband also lost his job in a paper company. This particular scene addresses Ah-ra’s epiphany, a realisation of how her husband’s actions had affected their relationship. These flat characters, whose backgrounds are not elaborated in the movie, add depth and influence to the development of the round character, Man-soo.

The fragments of emotion encapsulated in a single scene, transitioning from overpowered thoughts of absurdity to a fall back to reality, reflect the actors’ mastery of acting and embodiment. The movie subtly satirises how workers believe that getting fired is cutting their own throats.

Through different characters, the film masterfully shows the duality of instant hopelessness and excessive violent drives in a state of emptiness, a void without occupation.

Symbolism in the movie beautifully amplifies the plot’s message. Man-soo binds a plant with a metal rod and further encloses a dead body in the threads of it, showing how the capitalistic encroachment captures each life, preventing freedom and movement. This minimises the essence of living to a mere surrender towards the authorities. Workers lose control over themselves in the pursuit of survival, pushing self-worth to the bottom of priorities.

The normality of violence is symbolised by the chilli plant in the movie. How the absurdities can be found in the regular environment we often become oblivious of until we hold it in our own hands. Man-soo’s house itself tells a story about identity and personal values encapsulated entirely by money.

The cinematography and editing add sharp charm to the movie, making it visually appealing and leaving the audience with an aftertaste of an emotional rollercoaster, satisfaction, and curiosity. The peculiar colours used initially in the movie symbolise the superficiality of “Making it in life”, which juxtaposes each passing moment portrayed as unpredictable in the rest of the movie.

‘No Other Choice’ does not ask the audience to forgive Man-soo, nor does it demand condemnation. Instead, it traps us in his logic, where survival feels indistinguishable from necessity. The film lingers because it confronts an uncomfortable truth: when stability collapses, morality blurs—one that Park Chan-wook renders with gripping performances and unsettling precision.

No Other Choice

Director: Park Chan Wook

Cast: Son Ye-jin, Lee Byung-hun, Yeom Hye-ran, Park Hae-soon

Duration: 2h19m

Year: 2025

Languages: Korean, English

Available on: Prime Video