No Other Choice

No Other Choice

January 23, 2026
Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. South Korea's Official Submission to the Academy Awards.

Details About the Film

After being laid off by his longtime employer, veteran paper mill employee Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) struggles to find a new job. When he can no longer endure the humiliation of the current job market, Man-su turns to an unconventional approach to finding new employment: eliminate all the competition. Adapted from Donald E. Westlake’s novel The Ax and directed by Korean auteur Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, The Handmaiden, Decision to Leave), No Other Choice is a formally innovative black comedy about the perils of late capitalism.

Rating:
R
Director(s): Park Chan-wook
Starring: Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 139 minutes
Country: South Korea
Language(s): Korean with English subtitles
Content Warning(s): Extreme Violence
Accessibility Options: ListenTech (Hearing Impaired / Personal Amplified Audio Receiver w/optional T-Coil loop)

Film Reviews

"With No Other Choice, Park Chan-wook reasserts himself as one of modern cinema’s true masters."

–David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel

"Oozing with style and balancing humor and violence exceptionally well, No Other Choice is a well acted, hilarious effort from Park Chan-wook that provides exploration of unemployment and capitalism alongside its laughs."

–Rebecca Johnson, Talking Films

"Park has constructed a light and zany farce (and his funniest movie in over two decades) about how easy it is for the haves to lose everything, and the desperate lengths they will go to in order to maintain their charmed lives."

–Hoai-Tran Bui, Inverse

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