Review of NO OTHER CHOICE: Cutting the Competition

October 31, 2025

Yoo Man-soo (Lee Byung-hun) had been working in a paper-making factory for the past 25 years. He was able to buy back his childhood home where he now lived happily and comfortably with his wife Mi-ri (Son Ye-jin) and two children. One day, their factory closed down and everybody lost their jobs. Man-soo struggled to manage the sudden drastic drop in his financial capabilities, so they had to give up their hobbies, their dogs and their house. 

This latest film by one of the masters of Korean cinema -- Park Chan-wook, the same director who crafted classics like "Joint Security Area" (2000), "Oldboy" (2003), "The Handmaiden" (2016) and "Decision to Leave" (2022), among others. it had its world premiere last August in the Venice International Filmfest. It had already been announced to be the submission of South Korea for consideration in the race for the Oscar for Best International Film.

Park did masterful work here as director, telling this story (based on a 1997 American novel "The Ax" by Donald E. Westlake) about a jobless family man whose difficulty of finding a new job then pushed him to do unthinkable things. There were some pretty innovative camera angles to shoot scenes ranging from utter chaos (three people grappling for a pistol), to musical virtuosity (a mother finally getting to hear her special child playing cello). 

Lee Byung-hun is the probably the most ubiquitous Korean actor these days -- with recent credits for "Squid Game" (2021) and "K-Pop Demon Hunters" (2025). Man-soo went about eliminating his competition literally, and Lee portrayed this with restrained ruthlessness.  It was good to see "CLOY" actress Son Ye-jin as the wife, but sadly she was underused. Lee Sung-min and Yeom Hye-ran memorably played Man-soo's primary rival and his manic wife. 

The buzz is very strong that this film might just replicate the historic feat of Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite" (2019) at the Oscars, winning Best Picture, Best International Film and Best Director. The similarities are there, both being very dark comedies about the societal classes. However, don't let all that hype make you expect too much. It's good, but to be honest, I am not exactly raving for this one all that much as mucg I did for "Parasite" before. 7/10