No Other Choice

Park Chan-wook, acclaimed for titles like The Handmaiden and The Vengeance Trilogy, does it again! In this thoroughly captivating, immersive and at points, very disturbing film, we explore a family that once flourished, after their life of comfort is upturned. The film is led by the character of Yoo Man-su, a star employee at a paper-making company, who is laid off after an American company buys out his place of work. Played by an unrecognisable Lee Byung-hun (Squid Game), this movie presents a genre-bending cross between thriller, dark comedy and satire. What this film excels at is merging an insightful and eye-opening study on economic instability, corruption and hyper-capitalism, with a consistently gripping plot. Since it was a high-stakes plot (explored through Man-su’s quest to regain his status and eliminate his competition) concerning morally grey characters, it made the film rather grounded and exciting for me to follow through to the end. I particularly enjoyed Son Ye-jin’s performance as Lee Mi-ri, the protagonist’s wife, and the mesmerising shot compositions!

Naomi Pandey