no_other_choice

Adapting Donald Westlake's 1997 novel The Ax, Park Chan-wook is here to remind us that we are just little bugs surviving in an oppressive capitalist hellscape. Maybe there is an oddly empowering clarity in recognizing something so dispiriting.

Generally, a pest infestation is loud, kinda gross, and the governing hivemind's only goal is to preserve and propagate the population, even if it means destabilizing or destroying the very environment it has inhabited. If you zoom in on the infesting colony itself, you might find that these individual bugs are more like crabs in a giant bucket, destroying each other for their own anti-solidaristic aims. Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) is our main crab-bug in No Other Choice.

First and foremost, this movie is a visually stunning. The opening sequence establishes our hero relishing an idyllic family life in a beautiful home nestled into the edge of the woods. He is a family man on the surface, but he sometimes hides away in a carefully curated greenhouse. The cinematography is thoughtful, and there are a ton of fun and interesting shots e.g. the following disjunctive jump cut between Man-su and one of his victims.

I'll do what I can to explain: The predator and prey are having an ironic conversation, and the camera jumps between them, yet it remains on the same physical plane - they are therefore never in the same shot together. The audience is conditioned to recognize that Man-su is in the 'hunter' frame, and Si-jo in the 'hunted' frame. Man-su eventually exits the conversation, but the camera still cuts back over to his now empty spot, only for Si-jo to enter it. His (Cha Seung Won) perfectly-acted subtle awareness of Man-su's intent combined with his entrance into the 'hunter's frame raises fears of Man-su's safety. There are so many ways for Park Chan-wook to tell us this, but the unorthodox way in which he did so was masterful. He did stuff like this the whole movie, which really made it even more memorable.

The spine and thematic tension of the film rests in the paradox of the man who is a lover of nature deciding there is no other choice (ahem) but to sacrifice it for his own survival. Included in this theme are the promotional poster of him weaponizing a potter pepper plant, closeups of ladybugs consuming plant leaves, and the very fact that he is passionate about his job as a paper manufacturer. He is a pulp man.

"There was a beautiful pear tree. The bugs were eating it alive."

Ok so here's the general plot, and I will be spoiling it: the paper company that Man-su's works for is purchased by a PE firm, and he loses his job and potentially his home as a result. He lures the other newly unemployed 'pulp men' with a false job posting in order to execute them, making him the only qualified candidate around for any potential new job openings. Dark comedy beats proceed and he eventually accomplishes his goal albeit by the hand of entropy.

Every character by his side and in his way is interesting, hilarious, and real. Every little bug in the system of capitalism is skittering chaotically while all are humming in the same frequency. The sound mixing here reminds us of this by playing with things like the volume of the summer insects buzzing, the factory humming, the newly laid-off workers doing their group affirmations, tapping their necks.

Death, decay, and rot are persistent motifs. Everything is 'rotten at the root' - his tooth, his buried victim as tree food, capitalism in general. It's almost like there is no progress or growth without some death to sustain it. It's a pretty dire take on the growth of corporations and what exactly they feed on. By the end of the movie we find out that the downsizing is a result of a decision to automate factories using artificial intelligence. Man-su consumes the forbidden fruit twofold in the final act - he betrays his alcoholic abstinence to play up a ruse to subdue is final victim, and he accepts the job as the manager of an AI-run paper factory. The final stretch of the film coalesces the meaning, and I felt like I was rewarded with clarity by the time the credits rolled over footage of a forest being cut down.

We know data centers are popping up everywhere and hogging energy resources for AI in the name of rising corporations getting ahead. The ending comes full circle - and perhaps it is the new circle of life. The pressure imposed on the 'little people' like Man-su and his family by faceless corporate powers is on display in all of its absurdity.

"Losing your job is not the problem. It’s how you deal with it!"

This line is delivered while gesturing to a dead garden.

This movie is like a South Korean Coen Brothers nihilistic escapade - comedic deadpan performances, morbid hijinks, and very human (i.e. flawed) characters battling it out under the shadow of an unstoppable force crushing down on them. It is very entertaining - I was laughing as much as I was cringing. I was also thinking very deeply about what the story meant to me and what its general message to the audience was. If nothing else, I would go right back to the theater to witness the architecture, set designs, and cinematography. Fortunately, it is beautiful gift-wrapping and there is so much to enjoy in this movie. Can't wait to watch it again.