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No Other Choice
어쩔수가없다
2025 140 min South Korea, France R 18+
★7.9
Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Director: Park Chan-wook
📖 Based on the novel
«The Ax»
byDonald E. Westlake
Trailers
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Description
After being laid off and humiliated by a ruthless job market, a veteran paper mill manager descends into violence in a desperate bid to reclaim his dignity.
Budget:
$12.2M
US Gross:
$10.01M
Worldwide:
$40.22M
Starring
Lee Byung-hun
Actor
Son Ye-jin
Actor
Woo Seung Kim
Actor
Awards
Golden Globe 2026
— Best Picture (Comedy or Musical)
Golden Globe 2026
— Best Actor (Comedy or Musical)
Golden Globe 2026
— Best International Feature Film
Venice Film Festival 2025
— Golden Lion
Key opinion
Park Chan-wook’s latest film is widely hailed as a masterful, dark, and visually precise exploration of the existential dread triggered by corporate displacement and automation. While some viewers find the dark humor uneven or the pacing excessive, the general consensus praises the film for its stylistic ambition and a career-defining performance by Lee Byung-hun.
| Acting | Lee Byung-hun provides a magnetic, career-defining performance that perfectly balances tragic desperation with dark humor. | |
| Cinematography | The film features meticulously composed, stylish visuals that effectively blend traditional motifs with a modern, cynical aesthetic. | |
| Theme | The narrative effectively uses the lens of black comedy to offer a biting, profound critique of globalization, automation, and the precariousness of middle-class existence. | |
| Humor | The film’s tone is a subject of debate, with some finding the dark humor sharp and effective, while others view the slapstick elements as forced or overly heavy-handed. | |
| Pacing | The lengthy runtime and middle-section sag divide viewers; some appreciate the contemplative, slow-burn tempo, while others find it unnecessarily bloated with extraneous subplots. |