Park Chan-wook, the South Korean auteur, really doesn’t miss. But even by his own standards, he’s on a streak right now. 2016 brought one of his greatest films yet, The Handmaiden, followed by 2022’s excellent thriller Decision To Leave. Interspersed between his recent feature, he’s conquered the small screen too with The Little Drummer Girl and The Sympathizer. Now, he’s back with No Other Choice – a darkly comic thriller that satirises the current state of the workforce. Lee Byung-hun’s Man-su is a loyal worker who’s laid off from his job after 25 years; and when the employment market proves to be infuriatingly unfruitful, he starts whacking his competition.
“It feels like a timeless issue,” Park tells Empire in the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man issue. “Capitalism has always stayed the same. The issue of job security [or lack of it] being forced upon labourers has stayed consistent as well. It’s about greed: the greed that comes from comparing yourself to others, and the greed to not want to fall behind, to maintain your way of living.” When faces with, well, no other choice, what else would you do?
It’s a dark premise, but for all the breathtaking bleakness of some of Director Park’s other work (we’re still not over the ending twist of Oldboy), the results here are humourous. “I tried to focus on the moral dilemmas that Man-su was dealing with, and how he fumbled the execution,” the director explains. “I think that resulted in a more comic colour, a slightly more foolish tone, that’s a little different from my previous films.” Expect him to once again knock it out of the park.
Read Empire’s full No Other Choice – speaking to Park Chan-wook and Lee Byung-hun about their comedy thriller – in the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man issue, on sale Thursday December 18. Order a copy online here. No Other Choice comes to UK cinemas from 23 January.
