Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice” did not receive a Best International Feature nomination at the Oscars, and I never really expected it to. The international voting bloc doesn’t seem to love him all that much, having also snubbed “The Handmaiden” and “Decision to Leave.”
That said, “No Other Choice” has found plenty of passion outside the Academy bubble. Reviews have been strong, word of mouth has been enthusiastic, and the film has already earned $37M worldwide. Those die-hards will be happy with this update: the film is getting a director’s cut.
During an interview on the Kevin McCarthy Podcast, Park confirmed that a longer cut of “No Other Choice”—18 minutes longer, running 2 hours and 37 minutes—will be front and center when the film receives its 4K release a few months from now.
This isn’t the first time Park has done this with one of his films. The standard theatrical cut of “The Handmaiden” ran 145 minutes, while the extended cut clocked in at around 168 minutes, depending on the release—roughly 23 minutes of additional footage.
“No Other Choice” is an adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s 1997 satirical thriller The Ax, a project Park has dreamed of bringing to the screen for decades and one he dedicates to the late author. At its center is Man-su (played by Lee Byung-hun), a paper factory manager who loses the job he has held for 25 years. Shaken and humiliated, he becomes consumed with restoring his dignity and securing his family’s future before his home is lost.
As the narrative unfolds, Park uses the story to juggle a range of genres. “No Other Choice” shifts between satire, thriller, dark comedy, melodrama, and absurdist farce. Subplots—Man-su’s wife finding new work, his stepson becoming entangled in small-town trouble—branch outward, layering atop the central story of a man driven to increasingly extreme measures.
That said, I don’t see “No Other Choice” as a career-defining film for Park; although entertaining, and impeccably directed, the story felt a tad too convoluted for my tastes. His true landmarks, at least in my world, remain “Oldboy” and “The Handmaiden.”