No Other Choice

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★

Rated: M

Directed by: Park Chan-Wook

Based on the Novel: ‘The Ax’, Written by, Donald E. Westlake

Screenplay by: Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, Jahye Lee

Produced by: Park Chan-Wook, Back Jisun, Michèle Ray Gavras, Alexandre Gavras

Starring: Lee Byung-hun, Son Yejin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won.

Viewed in Korean with English subtitles.

No Other Choice starts off as a lighthearted, almost, slap stick comedy about a family man living his best life, meet, You Man-Su (Lee Byung-hun).

The sun shines, blossoms fall from the sky like a rain of flowers, showering the man of the house, cooking a BBQ for his family: wife, Lee Miri (Son Yeijin), son, Si-one (Woo Seung Kim), daughter, Ri-one (So Yul Choi) and two dogs.

‘I’ve got it all’, Man-Su says, as the screen fades to black.

There’s a lot of transition in the film, the fade to black a precursor to the dark days ahead.

Man-Su loses his job as a manager at a paper company after working as an expert for 25 years.  With a threat of losing everything that matters, his wife after receiving his gift of new dancing shoes says:

‘They say not to gift shoes to your lover.’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’

‘‘Cause they might run away in them.’

‘Seems your dad is confident’, Miri says.

Fall is coming.

Each scene is carefully put together so each moment has undertones of meaning.

The connection of family linked together by the circle of light from a flashlight to transition to the light shining on another face.  A family linked together by bad deeds: ‘If you do something bad, I’m doing it with you, okay?’, Miri tells Man-Su.

Because as far as Man-Su can figure it, he’s got to eliminate the competition to get a job.

He’s fierce.  He’s will to do anything to get the job.  Anything.

Director, Park Chan-Wook states, “I wanted to make a film that would encourage viewers to ask questions. What is considered the lowest level of life for Korea’s contemporary middle class? What standard of living must you maintain to be able to consider your life decent? So, what exactly does this man desire to protect?”

A focus on the protagonist, Man-Su gives way to: his wife, a retired dental hygienist, his genius, autistic daughter, and his thoughtful son.

It’s not just the father running the family, each character plays a part.  And each character is shown slowly, carefully, as the film continues.

I was bored at the beginning.

Sure, the timing led to funny moments, lots of bums and yelling over loud music and the comic moment of Man-Su subtly moving to avoid the bright sun in his eye during an all-important job interview.

Then, the layers.  The symbolism starts seeping into the story like ink absorbed into paper to bleed through to the other side of understanding what’s going on with this character wound tight like a bonsai wound with metal thread to shape a branch to such an extreme it cracks.

There’s a lot to un-pack here, the pressure, life priorities, the perceived expectation all told with clever devices that fold each layer over the other, to leave the cinema with a feeling of, Oh wow, that crept up to turn into something else.  And that’s brilliant.