No Other Choice (2025)
If you can’t beat the job market, eliminate it.
Presentation:
Park Chan Wook gives us his version of Parasite with signature flair. His eccentric quirkiness permeates throughout the entire presentation and feels like amalgam of all his films, particularly Lady Vengeance. It’s not serious and falls under a textbook dark comedy caper. Visually it has a digital surrealist green grade with exaggerated lighting. There are a lot of editing techniques used in this film including cross-dissolves, transitions and overlayed images, which I felt to be a bit superfluous at times. I think it’s hard not to compare this with Parasite. Both have similar themes of economic desperation revolving around a beautiful home. Judging from the length of the film, Park seems to really be pushing for an Oscar by trying to make this an epic, but it mostly feels like the pacing is being stretched out without good reason. But this is characteristic for all of his artistic films.
Analysis:
I enjoyed the social commentary this film. It’s really interesting how Park does this theme nuance by also critiquing how the anti-capitalist sentiment is hypocritical because it is borne by materialistic standards. Of course life is going to be a struggle in the developed world if you have a mansion refuse to give up your cushy lifestyle. But the film makes a great point, it’s not about losing your job, but how you deal with it. Unemployment hits home hard for me, but perhaps the ones that complain the most are the ones that actually have it better than most.
Conclusion:
The way I felt about this film is similar to The Handmaiden and if you liked that you may like this one. The problem is the contemporary tone doesn’t really vibe with his style at times. That being said I preferred this one over the popular masterpiece. This is definitely a fantastic premise with amazingly relevant social commentary, but I don’t think it’s as profound as Neon Studios markets it as nor does it warrant a “must watch” screening for capitalist ceos. There are many great scenes, but they aren’t connected in a direction that delivers subversive gratification that we got in Oldboy. It’s just not as focused as a result of having so many cinematic tangents. But for such a stylish visionary, perhaps there was really no other choice.
Recommendations
If you can’t beat the job market, eliminate it.