LFF 2025: ‘No Other Choice’ Review
Stars: Lee Byung Hun, Son Yejin, Park Hee Soon, Lee Sung Min, Yeom Hye Ran, Cha Seung Won, Choi So Yul, Kim Woo Seung, Kim Hyeongmook, Oh Dal Soo, Lee Suk Hyeong | Written by Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Jahye Lee, Don McKellar | Directed by Park Chan-wook
Korean director Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden, Decision to Leave) returns with satirical murder-thriller No Other Choice, based on a 1997 novel by Donald E. Westlake. Blackly comic and deliriously entertaining, it’s one of the best films of the year.
No Other Choice begins with an idyllic set-up that we instinctively know is about to be shattered into a million pieces. Paper company manager You Man-su (Lee Byung Hun) gathers his loving wife Miri (Son Yejin), their adorable two children (named Ri-one and Si-one) and their even more adorable two Golden Labradors (named Ri-two and Si-two) at a summer barbecue in their garden, where he exclaims, “I have it all.”
Almost immediately afterwards, Man-su loses his job in a company-wide downsizing, forcing the family to make drastic cutbacks: no more dance lessons, a smaller car, cancelling Netflix, that sort of thing. After finding nothing but menial work for a year, and in danger of losing his beloved childhood home, Man-su hits upon a drastic scheme – he will murder the obnoxious manager of a rival paper company, as well as also murdering the most likely candidates for his replacement, who he identifies via placing an ad for a fake paper company and sifting through the applicants.
Unfortunately, Man-su turns out to be hilariously inept at murdering, which makes him oddly endearing, even when he eventually gets the desired result. The fact that he remains largely sympathetic is testament to both the razor-sharp script and to Lee Byung Hun’s wonderful performance – essentially, he’s the nicest murderer ever committed to celluloid.
The supporting cast are equally good. Son Yejin is a joy to watch as Mira, and the husband-wife chemistry between the two leads is very charming. She’s also very funny, especially when trying to charm her awful neighbour into dropping some charges against her son.
In addition, there’s also a film-stealing turn from Yeom Hye-ran as Mrs Lee, the wannabe actress wife of Man-su’s first victim. She has two stand-out sequences, the second of which (involving a heated confrontation set against loudly playing Korean pop music) might be one of the best scenes of the year.
Park Chan-wook’s direction is a thing of beauty throughout. His framing is both gorgeous and inventive, and he creates some stunning images, aided by Kim Woo-hyung’s stunning colour-saturated cinematography. Similarly, the editing is masterful – in particular, there are cuts back and forth between two similar sequences that are just breathtaking.
On top of everything else, Park Chan-wook maintains complete mastery of the tone throughout, maintaining delicious black comedy but not making light of the murders themselves in the process. To that end, it recalls the classic 1949 Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets (although the murders there were admittedly more broadly comedic).
Put simply, No Other Choice is a movie that is just packed full of cinematic pleasures, from inspired soundtrack moments to pratfalls to dance sequences to laugh-out-loud one-liners (“I’ll be sure to let you know when I go missing”, Man-su tells the police) to some delightfully timed FaceTime jokes, as well as a genuinely moving husband-and-wife relationship at its centre. It also has something to say about the real-life horror of our impending obsolescence due to the encroachment of A.I., something which provides the film with a pitch-perfect end note.
In short, No Other Choice is Park Chan-wook at the top of his game – impeccable, thrilling filmmaking, terrific performances and a consistently delightful script. It is, in a word, unmissable.
***** 5/5
No Other Choice screened at this year’s London Film Festival.
