DIRECTOR
Park Chan-wook
Decision to Leave, The Handmaiden, Stoker, Thirst, I’m a Cyborg But That’s OK, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, Three… Extremes, Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Joint Security Area

STARS
Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran and Woo Seung Kim

He might already be highly acclaimed by critics around the world and is regarded as a leading figure in South Korean and 21st-century world cinema, yet Park Chan-wook films and I are yet to hit it off. At face value, his films sound utterly intriguing, always find their way onto my must-watch list and are certainly ambitious, but I leave the cinema underwhelmed and disappointed each time. Decision to Leave (Heojil kyolshim), Stoker and Thirst (Bakjwi) are the films I’ve seen of his to date and do not rate. Is No Other Choice, Park Chan-wook’s dream project, a turning point?

No Other Choice is South Korea’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2026 Academy Awards ® and is the recipient of 3 Golden Globe Nominations ®, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language and Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Lee Byung-hun. 

Based on the novel The Ax by Donald Westlake and a second film adaptation of that novel after the 2005 French-language feature (Le couperet), No Other Choice presents a darkly comical unravelling one family man’s existence after the sudden loss of his 25-year job.

As Man-su (played by Lee Byung-hun, whom viewers around the world will know from Netflix series Squid Game and for his voice work as Gw-ma in KPop Demon Hunters) brings his wife, Miri (Son Ye-jin) and kids in for a group family hug early into the film, proclaiming they’ve got it all, you just know this moment of prosperity and possession will be pushed aside very, very soon! When he abruptly loses his job due to the paper manufacturing company he works for being bought out by an American company, Man-su decides to provide for his family by surviving on his severance pay for 3 months before being hired elsewhere. What he fails to realise though is that despite the wealth of experience he has in this industry, it is a fading one and job opportunities are growing thinner by the month. With mounting financial and familial pressures piling up, Man-su sees no other choice or solution and decides that if job opportunities are growing thinner, then so too must the candidates for them.

Like the previous three Park Chan-wook films I have seen, it is impossible to see where the director and co-writer is taking his film next and how it will all end. There is a lot of curiosity derived from the sheer unpredictability Chan-wook purposefully brings into his films, but in past films, there are also equal amounts of bewilderment and bizarreness that reduce the fun there is to be had and leave his films lacking in substance. While No Other Choice possesses all of these characteristics, and more, the scales have finally tipped more favourably to the side of this film. I mean, the sharpness in writing, characterisation and directing is not at the level Oscar winner ® Bong Joon-ho (Parasite, Mother, The Host, Snowpiercer) continually produces, but this is both a noticeable and notable improvement in storytelling and directing from Park Chan-wook and his best film I have seen to date, with room still for improvement.

Eyebrows will be raised by what is seen throughout No Other Choice, both from astonishment and absurdity. Though the aforementioned elimination of competing job candidates by Man-su might read as spoiler territory and reveal more detail than some readers may wish to know, I promise it is out of necessity for what must be explained next and also promise there is a whole heap more unsaid here awaiting your presence. The ‘elimination journey’ as I’ll call it here, that Man-su embarks on is one of the fundamental reasons No Other Choice is a contemporary and darkly comedic success. Its foundations keep substance deep-rooted when proceedings turn grossly exaggerated and ridiculous, there is credibility to the depiction and evolution of these scenarios that illustrate the darkly humourous side to what Man-su is doing and some thematic commentary is on offer for those seeking it. That said, there are a small handful or so of occasions where I find the absurdity is too absurd to the point where the movie is simply strange without reason or necessity. Also, it loses focus on some finer plot details. Thankfully, that occurs less in No Other Choice than it does in previous works of Park Chan-wook’s I’ve seen.

No Other Choice is very, very good. But it isn’t quite excellent. Again, I wish it derived more of its absurdity from the premise and plot developments and found a way to tie this into the thematic components of the screenplay to build more of a committed commentary. This would make it more intellectually intriguing. One thing lacking is making viewers have more sympathy for Man-su from early than I did. I believe a little more devotion to character and family earlier into proceedings would seamlessly provide this and result in Man-su’s desperate acts also being gripping to watch unfold.

If you appreciate unpredictable and creative world cinema, you have no other choice but to add No Other Choice to your watch list!

No Other Choice is showing in selected cinemas across Australia from January 15th, 2026.

Moviedoc thanks Madman for the invitation to the screening of this film. 

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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