“No Other Choice” is a South Korean dark satire with a thriller twist. The film, co-written, produced, and directed by Park Chan-wook, starts at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center on Jan. 30. “No Other Choice” was nominated for Best Picture, Best Foreign Film, and Best Actor in the musical and comedy categories at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards.
We meet our protagonist, Yoo Man-su (Lee Byung-hun), on a beautiful fall day, gleefully grilling away in the backyard of his impressive childhood suburban home. He is surrounded by his family — his stepson, daughter, and wife, who joyfully dances with him after he gives her a pair of expensive golden dance shoes. Calling his family to him for a group hug, Man-su declares, “I’ve got it all,” as their two golden retrievers, Si-two and Ri-two, named after the children, complete the happy scene.
The film, however, is based on a book by Donald Westlake, “The Ax,” and the title should make us pause. The phrase refers to the idiom for being fired from a job, which is precisely what happens to Man-su. He is a well-paid, awardwinning manager at Solar Paper, having dedicated his 25-year career to the company. But it is being bought out by Americans, who, in the name of capitalism, are automating the plant, and Man-su is summarily let go.
He joins other devastated fired employees in group pep talks, where they spout mantras about obtaining new jobs within three months. However, the reality turns out to be far different. Man-su works low-level retail jobs and spirals downward during his humiliating job search in a ruthless market. Things get worse when his wife, Mi-ri (Son Ye-jin), makes drastic cuts to their lifestyle. His beloved house goes on the market. She finds work as a dental assistant. They eat nearly meatless meals, and even the beloved dogs are given away because it costs too much to feed them.
Having lost his job, which was his core identity, Man-su is driven to distraction. Becoming increasingly desperate, he devises a disturbing, extreme scheme to obtain a coveted position, feeling he has “no other choice.”
With expert camerawork, fine editing, and an evocative score, what follows is a harrowing tale with an absurdist flair that speaks to the hazards of the corporate rat race and how modernization kills the soul. But woven throughout the story’s many, sometimes humorous twists and turns is a theme of love, and the lengths people will go to for those closest to their hearts. Ultimately, “No Other Choice” leaves us to weigh, within his world, whether Man-su, in fact, had another option, and the personal price of his actions.
“No Other Choice” opens at the M.V. Film Center on Jan. 30. For tickets and information, visit mvfilmsociety.com.