There’s not a lot in the way in which of subtlety on the subject of the large themes of Park Chan-wook’s No Different Selection. It is a film concerning the soulless, zero-sum distress of late capitalism—a pointy, bleak, brutal, and surprisingly humorous retort to the concept company energy leaves anybody with something resembling actual alternative. I am a libertarian who works for Purpose. I’ve a usually sunny disposition in the direction of each capitalism and companies, which are not good however have, on the entire, made societies richer and particular person life extra gratifying. And but I somewhat loved this film, not as a result of I agreed with its critique of markets, however as a result of it is the form of bold, private, high-wire movie that may solely be made in a world the place actual alternative exists. And past the floor critique of company inhumanity, there is a deeper character examine of recent masculinity to be discovered.
The setup mixes darkish comedy with thriller noir in the way in which of the Coen brothers or A Easy Plan-era Sam Raimi. Yoo Man-su, a middle-aged man with a wonderful household and a snug dream dwelling, immediately finds himself the sufferer of layoffs after an American firm buys his specialty paper manufacturing unit. He protests to one of many new homeowners, however is dismissed and advised that there was “no different alternative.” It is one of many only a few strains within the movie spoken in English, and clearly meant as an indictment of American capitalism.
He units out to search out new work, however finally ends up lifting bins as he realizes that the majority different specialty paper firms are downsizing too. All, that’s, besides one, which has precisely one senior-level job that he can be certified for. The issue is that he isn’t the one one attempting to attain that place; there are a small variety of different middle-aged paper manufacturing unit managers who’ve related {qualifications}. So he decides to kill his rivals, eliminating the competitors. He feels he has no different alternative.
It is an absurd setup, however Chan-wook sells it by leaning into comedian hyperbole and exaggerated metaphor. It is a homicide fable for our occasions, meant to be taken significantly however not actually. You are not anticipated to interact with the film or its story on strictly realist phrases; that is an elaborate train in narrative symbolism.
Buried within the film is one thing darker, stranger, much less overtly political, however no much less incendiary. As Man-su units out on his homicide spree, he meets the opposite paper males he intends to kill—and he discovers all of them have so much in frequent. Man-su is a recovering alcoholic, and his first supposed sufferer is a drunk who prides himself on analog dwelling, holing up in a examine with an audiophile sound system and an excessive amount of whisky. Man-su is a good admirer of well-made objects, and in the beginning of the movie, he offers his spouse a pair of fancy excessive heels. The second man on his checklist has taken a job as a retail shoe salesman; he is additionally an engineer who prides himself on fix-it capacity. Within the opening scene, Man-su grills an eel delivered to him by his firm, earlier than he loses his job. The ultimate goal just isn’t solely a drinker, however a lover of barbecue who goals of grilling each evening at his swank new island hideaway. They’re rivals, sure, however they’re additionally a brotherhood, males given goal by a selected line of labor.
The entire males, in the meantime, have sophisticated relationships with ladies: divorce, distance, jealousy, and anger. This is not a disaster of capitalism a lot as a disaster of masculinity. It is a farce about what ails the trendy man, what occurs when he is left with out work, with out self, with out goal. It is a film model of the memes: Males would somewhat kill their workforce friends than go to remedy. Is the treatment for male loneliness murdering the competitors?
What Man-su desires is extra than simply stability. He desires camaraderie, group, collegiality. When his plant downsizes, he initially protests that it is not proper, that the job is actually concerning the different guys he works with. But within the film’s ironic metaphorical conceit, he goes on to pursue what quantities to a downsizing effort himself, culling the workforce to make it leaner. Did he maybe produce other selections, however refused them due to his masculine ego? The film no less than permits the likelihood for individuals who are paying consideration.
Chan-wook’s most well-known work is the twisted, tragic 2003 thriller Oldboya film constructed on a sequence of bravura set piece pictures. No Different Selection is considerably extra restrained, however its elegant formalism typically offers solution to his previous, trendy bravado. A key scene includes the guzzling of an Irish automotive bomb—a pint of beer with a shot of whisky in it—shot from an inside-the-glass perspective that makes the straightforward act of taking a drink seem to be probably the most momentous factor on the earth. Even should you do not buy its themes, it is a actually beautiful film simply on a visible degree.
And the truth that you possibly can see it extensively in American theaters is a triumph of world distribution. I am sufficiently old to recollect when it was almost not possible to see South Korean cinema within the U.S. exterior of some main cities. But over greater than 20 years, Chan-wook has succeeded as a well-liked artist within the worldwide film market. That is the actual logic of latest capitalism: It offers film viewers, film makers—together with many different individuals—extra selections. Thank goodness.
