REVIEW: No Other Choice (어쩔수가없다) - Who Will Make The Chop?

This black comedy thriller film starring Lee Byung-hun directed by Park Chan-wook is South Korea’s entry for Best International Feature Film for the 98th Academy Awards and brings an interesting vibe as an adaptation of the novel “The Axe” by Donald Westlake. 

It deals with competition for a job which drives one to do the extremes to secure the spot. And it seems that the perks of the position does motivate Man-soo (Byung-hun) to get creative in eliminating the competition. This adaptation does work well with the current working culture and changes which is also attached with the lifestyle they dream of and how they cling to it very deeply.

The mood is first set by the score that controls the tension of the scenes as the story unfolds and then comes the time to bring in the dark comedy with the situations especially when things get deadly. Elements like their hobbies seem trivial at first yet become sinister at the perfect moment. 

No Other Choice is distributed by Creazion Studios and showing in Philippine cinemas October 29 and in IMAX theaters October 25.