The drama-humor-crime genre swirls of Park Chan-wook (“Oldboy,” “Thirst,” “The Handmaiden”) have never been recognized with an Oscar nomination, but that could change this season with his new jet-black comedy about unemployment and the lengths to which one man will go to beat his competitors for a job.
The film stars Korean actor Lee Byung-hun (“Squid Game”) as an executive in the paper industry who unravels after being laid off. It marks Park’s second Oscar selection from South Korea, after 2022’s “Decision to Leave.” Like all of his work, the film combines a wry, satirical tone with a dynamic visual style, filled with motifs and subliminal images.
Your ironic style is evident just from this movie’s title, which has a double meaning. But it’s different from your source material’s title.
PARK CHAN-WOOK: Yeah, this film is based on a Donald Westlake novel called “The Ax,” which in English is slang for getting fired. But “the ax” doesn’t mean getting fired in Korean. And I have a reputation for making violent films, so there was the danger of misunderstanding “the ax” as a weapon in the story, which is why I decided on “No Other Choice.”
What fascinated you most about the material?
That the lead character is a pretty typical, kind man. He doesn’t kill for a living, so when he has to murder other people, he is naturally going to be very bad at it. I saw potential for comedic moments within that. And I liked the paradox involving his family, which was not as present in the novel. He does everything for the sake of the family, and it is precisely what he does that causes the family to shatter.
And did you realize that the subject of employment woes would resonate with audiences everywhere?
Yeah, I did. Whenever I go to film festivals, people always ask the question, “So what is your next project?” And I’d tell them the 5-minute version of this story and I could see that everybody was thrilled by it. That’s how I realized that this was a story that is relevant to any country that is under a capitalist society and the issue of job security or this materialist desire of the middle class to not fall below that lifestyle. Or the element about these pitiful men who are boxed in in this very narrow version of what masculinity looks like.
And I realized that even with the passage of time, people will always find these issues interesting. So even after I was working on other films, I always came back to this project and continued to work on it over the years.
In your work, you often do amazing things with mirrors and reflections.
Well, I’ve always been charmed by reflections, images seen in a mirror or the water. It’s because, first of all, they make a more fun viewing experience. Regardless of how many times people watch a film of mine, I hope they’ll always find something new in it. And reflections show how complicated the world is and how complicated people are.
A moment I especially like in this film is when we see the photos of two of the murder victims on an iPad and then the screen turns off and we see the reflection of our lead character’s face, through the black mirror of the iPad. It’s like we’re showing the moment of their death as they look into his face.
In this film, you feature a very funny home-invasion sequence, where three characters can barely hear each other because the song “Red Dragonfly” is blasting on a stereo. How did you pick that song?
The singer who sang that song, Cho Yong-pil, is an amazing singer-songwriter who has always been at the top of his field from the late 70s to present time. He was a hero of mine in my younger days, and I wanted to use one of his songs to introduce his music to foreign audiences. Because he had so many great songs, it was hard to choose a song to use for my movie.
This song pairs well with the situation on the screen in some ways, but in other ways, it feels absurdly off. I like that the combination with the song and the image on the screen provides that enjoyment in both ways.
You reunite with actor Lee Byung-hun for the first time since “Joint Security Area” (2000). What was it like to work together again?
When we did “JSA,” it was very early in our careers and we were desperate to make the movie good. Because if it failed, we knew that we weren’t going to have many more chances. But now that our careers have stabilized a bit, we are more relaxed and have a wider perspective. We were both open to ideas on set and we joked around all the time.
And on the promotional tour for the film, it’s much better to have him by my side rather than to go through it alone. We don’t have as much time to go for drinks after work like we used to in Korea, which is disappointing, but we have a group chat with the entire cast of the film where we post photos, tease each other and share jokes.
As you travel with this movie to film festivals, I’ve heard that you feel a great sense of relief when the audience laughs.
Oh, it’s so important to me. For this movie, the sound of the audience’s laughter makes me happier than anything in the world, even more than the sound of Mozart’s music.
This story first ran in the Below-the-Line issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the issue here.
