The job market is bleak, and in No Other Choice, the latest from visionary filmmaker Park Chan-wook, it’s downright lethal. A layoff leads to murder in the filmmaker’s dark comedy, an adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s The Ax, but bubbling beneath the surface of this seemingly irreverent comedy of errors lies a biting satire with endless scorn for capitalism.
Man-soo (Lee Byung-hun) has it all. A picture-perfect home, a gorgeous wife, two children, and two adorable golden retrievers. No Other Choice introduces the family as they enjoy a meal in their yard together, one gifted by the paper company that Man-soo has worked at for over two decades. He doesn’t realize until after he receives the bad news that the gift is the telltale sign of an imminent layoff. Securing a new job in his increasingly competitive field proves challenging, with dwindling job opportunities and fierce competition.
With bills mounting, forcing the relocation of the family pets and the need for his wife, Mi-ri (Son Yejin), to get a job to help keep them afloat, Man-soo becomes so determined to continue in his line of work that he elects to take out the competition for the last viable paper company’s job opening.
What begins as an almost parody of domestic bliss slowly unravels into a darkly funny unraveling filled with dead bodies. Lee Byung-hun is masterful as a desperate man increasingly in over his head; this family man isn’t a murderer by nature, but through paranoia and desperation will transform from bumbling amateur into determined professional. Even more impressive is the way Park Chan-wook frames Man-soo’s nasty predicament with sympathy yet stark honesty; this isn’t a film where we’re meant to root for his murderous machinations.
It’s a calculated takedown of capitalism, or rather, Man-soo’s plan is a byproduct of it. His family’s identity, like most, is intertwined with the material objects they buy or the expensive dance or music lessons. That only builds until the final frames, with Park Chan-wook taking square aim at AI’s role in further destabilizing the job market, the final denouement in this mordantly humorous cautionary tale.
No Other Choice also makes for one of the more visually dazzling films of the year. Park Chan-wook finds inventive and dazzling ways to heighten the mundanity of suburban life with flair. Unique angles, thrilling zooms, clever match cuts and transitions, stunning shots, and stellar camerawork by cinematographer Kim Woo-hyung embellish the dramatic stakes to a thrilling degree.
Park Chan-wook’s deceptively simple comedy proves anything but. On the surface, it’s a delightfully grim comedy of errors that sees a family man fumble his way through murder while struggling to keep his family together. Just beneath that surface simmers a righteous condemnation of capitalism, but one that never veers into preachy territory thanks to the comedic finesse of its filmmaker. It makes for a disarming and almost whimsical experience that wallops you hard with a sucker punch when you least expect it.
No Other Choice made its NA premiere at TIFF and will release in select theaters on Christmas Day before going wide January 2026.
