“No Other Choice”, A Drama About Dignity and Resilience by Park Chan-Wook
Park Chan-Wook’s return to the Lido carries the kind of surprise only great auteurs can bring. With “No Other Choice” (Eojjeolsuga Eobsda), presented in the official competition, the acclaimed South Korean filmmaker moves away from the hypnotic tensions of “Old Boy” (2003) and the refined cruelties of “The Handmaiden” (2016). There, he embraces a story that blends social drama with a touch of melancholic irony. A shift that did not unsettle the Venetian audience: the standing ovation confirmed how his voice, even in a different register, remains unmistakable.
Set in contemporary South Korea, the film follows the story of You Man-su (Lee Byung-hun), a skilled craftsman with 25 years of experience in traditional paper-making, living a seemingly serene family life with his wife Miri (Son Ye-jin) and their two children. Everything collapses when he is suddenly fired, dismissed with a cold “we have no other choice.” From there begins his descent into the labyrinth of precarity: futile job interviews, underpaid gigs, and the looming threat of losing the house for which he has sacrificed everything. A chance for redemption arises with Moon Paper, but the rejection and humiliation inflicted by foreman Choi Sun-chul (Park Hee-soon) pushes him toward an extreme decision: if there’s no place for him, he will take it by force.
“No Other Choice” examines the fragility of economic security and the way work becomes integral to personal identity. Written 17 years ago and revised many times since, the script finally reached Venice as a work that marks a new maturity of vision: less baroque, more essential, yet still capable of turning a single visual detail into an emotional detonator. This balance between intimacy and radicality makes “No Other Choice” not only one of the festival’s most anticipated films, but also one of its most significant cinematic experiences.
Text: Germano D’Acquisto
Photos: Ludovica Arcero
