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Keswick Film Club Presents: No Other Choice. Everyone welcome, you don't have to be a Film Club Member (members enjoy £3 off the ticket price). 

Director: Park Chan-wook.  S Korea 2025 (NC) 2hr 19min.

In Korean with English subtitles.

Park Chan-wook’s latest is the South Korean entry for the Oscars this year. He has brought us some great thrillers - ‘The Handmaiden’, ‘Decision to Leave’ - and this is no exception, but this one is charged with comedy as well.

We start off seeing what a wonderful life Man-su and his family are living - lovely house, lovely family, even TWO golden retrievers. But then it all goes wrong; his company is taken over by an American one and he is ‘let go’ - "We have no other choice". Gradually everything in his life begins to go - first the car, then the house, then… and he can’t find another job. In desperation he comes up with a plan - eliminate the opposition - literally! He, of course, thinks he has ‘no other choice’.

So out comes his father’s North-Korean-made revolver...This plan might have some sense if he could become adept at killing people but, as in ‘The Mastermind’ last season, he is just not cut out for his chosen way of life; bring on the comedy. ‘But while the crime spree may be inept, Park’s filmmaking is as elegant as ever, in a wildly enjoyable picture that balances psychological tension against giddily hilarious comic set pieces’ - Wendy Ide, Screen Daily.

‘Beneath the broad comedy and satire, however, is a minor key refrain. The film is extremely amusing, certainly, but it’s simultaneously a poignant study of the desperation of the long-term jobless and the needless cruelty of the corporate world. It’s also a warning. As AI chews increasingly large chunks out of the job market, we could all be Man-su. The question is, who will be the one holding the North Korean service revolver when the time comes?’ - Wendy Ide again.

My questions are ‘Will Park Chan-wook win the Oscar for this and will Keswick Film love it too?’ Let’s hope so.