No Other Choice

No Other Choice is another blazing social satire to come out of South Korea.

If Parasite and Squid Game hadn’t already perfected the form, here’s another to add to the list.

To balance this level of artistry, cinematography, humour, metaphor, thrills and satire is simply masterful and Park Chan-wook has created something here which stands up next to the aforementioned Parasite.

That film was a Best Picture winner and No Other Choice is hard done by not to make the list for that category at this year’s Oscars.

Perhaps not quite as ‘perfect’ as Bong Joon Ho’s masterpiece this is, nonetheless, a deftly-constructed film that never fails to simply be a brilliantly entertaining thrill ride whilst still skewering corporate culture and masculinity and serving up moments of arthouse strangeness.

As Man-su (Squid Game’s Lee Byung-hun is masterful in the role) tries to secure another role in the paper industry after being made redundant after an American buy out, he realises his best way to beat the competition is to kill them off.

Like Walter White in Breaking Bad, he is not really quite cut out to do this initially and, thus, what ensues is some pitch-black hilarious moments of stalking and execution.

All the while, he tries to keep his home life intact. It’s surprising, shocking and brutal but also funny, tricksy and altogether beautiful.

The shot selection is stunning and there are some truly ‘soon-to-be-iconic’ moments here in a film that will no doubt stand toward the top of this year’s rankings.

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