Lede
A man gets laid off and responds by treating the recruitment process like a literal elimination round. [BBFC]
Hermit Off Script
No Other Choice (Korean: 어쩔수가없다 [Eojjeolsuga eobsda]) (2025)
No other choice is the perfect title for where cinema’s headed: pay monthly, turn up, and take whatever the schedule throws at you. I was genuinely delighted to see a Korean film sitting in my range this time, and the fact it was basically an Unlimited perk just underlines the new deal: the future is subscriptions, not tickets. That works – right up until too many average films pile into the multiplex and the whole place starts feeling like a warm, overpriced waiting room for streaming. And then Park Chan-wook strolls in like he owns the language of cinema, because he sort of does. You don’t book him expecting background noise. You expect craft, teeth, and that cold, elegant control that makes other directors look like they’re filming with their elbows. The cast is stacked too, the kind of names that are huge if you live even slightly inside Korean cinema, and weirdly “unknown” if your world begins and ends with Hollywood’s algorithm. Best bit? The room was almost full. That says the Unlimited crowd is growing, and it also says Korean cinema deserves more screens, not fewer.
Update – 01/02/2026
When I saw “No Other Choice” was on an IMAX screen, I told myself: no way in hell I’m missing that. Some films are built for the big screen, and this one basically files a complaint if you try to watch it small. And yes, it was glorious. The scenes hit harder, the sound actually mattered, and those speeches that could’ve been “blah blah meaningful” on a normal screen landed like they were supposed to. That’s the whole IMAX trick, isn’t it? It turns boring films into something you can tolerate, and it turns the good ones into a premium experience you feel in your ribs.
So if you’ve got the option, don’t stand there doing maths about ticket prices and snacks. Just go IMAX. The film earns it, and the screen makes sure you pay attention.
NO OTHER CHOICE – Official Trailer
No Other Choice (2025): Roast movie synopsis
Redundancy turns a respectable man into a one-person recruitment purge.
A paper-company manager gets fired in a downsizing shake-up and realises the modern job market has only two lanes: “retraining” or “removing the competition”. He chooses the one HR can’t put in a slide deck, then starts treating executive vacancies like a knock-out tournament where the losers do not get a polite rejection email. It’s a black comedy thriller about how quickly a “family man” can become a “case study”, and how capitalism turns morality into an optional add-on once the pay cheque stops.
Cast and credits
Director: Park Chan-wook [La Biennale]
Writers: Park Chan-wook; Lee Kyoung-mi; Don McKellar; Jahye Lee [La Biennale]
Genre: Comedy thriller (UK classification); also filed under comedy, crime, drama, mystery and thriller depending on the database. [BBFC] [Rotten Tomatoes]
Main cast: Lee Byung-hun; Son Ye-jin; Park Hee-soon; Lee Sung-min; Yeom Hye-ran; Cha Seung-won [La Biennale]
Composer: Cho Young-wuk [La Biennale]
Production company/studio: Moho Film; KG Productions [La Biennale]
Runtime: 139 minutes [BBFC]
Release year and platform: Production year 2025; UK cinema release 23/01/2026 via MUBI (cinema distributor listed by BBFC). [BBFC]
Park Chan-wook: Cannes’ favourite knife-and-fork auteur
This is the part where cinema people pretend they are above commerce while counting trophies like loyalty points. Park Chan-wook is the perfect case study: start with a local box office earthquake, then graduate to the festival circuit where violence becomes “craft” the moment it arrives with subtitles and perfect framing. Cannes literally lists Joint Security Area as record-breaking in Korea in 2000, which is a polite way of saying he kicked the door in and everyone pretended it was always open. Then Oldboy wins the Grand Prix in 2004 and suddenly half the film world discovers Korean cinema like it is a new planet, not a country with an industry that had already been grinding for decades.
And here’s the joke: the more extreme the stories get, the more respectable the packaging becomes. Thirst collects a Jury Prize in 2009, Decision to Leave gets Best Director in 2022, and the brand hardens into luxury: you do not “watch” Park, you “attend” Park. Now he turns up in Venice competition again with No Other Choice, because the circuit loves a familiar chef who can plate despair with a flourish. The system rewards the same handful of names, then acts shocked when audiences think cinema is just awards-season content with better lighting.
What does not make sense
- “Unlimited” cinema is sold as the future, while streaming keeps quietly eating the future anyway.
- A film about job insecurity lands as a treat for paying members – as if anxiety needs a loyalty scheme.
- Korean stars are “big names” and “unknown in the West” at the same time, depending on whose algorithm is in charge.
- Cinemas fear becoming obsolete, then prove they still work by packing rooms for the very films they under-book.
Sense check / The numbers
- The UK cinema release date is 23/01/2026, the BBFC rating is 15, and the running time is 139 minutes. [BBFC]
- The film played in Venice competition with a listed running time of 139 minutes and a Korean-language credit package that includes Park Chan-wook directing and co-writing. [La Biennale]
- Rotten Tomatoes lists a 97 per cent Tomatometer from 213 reviews (and 94 per cent audience score from 500+ verified ratings at the time of capture). [Rotten Tomatoes]
- The story is adapted from Donald E. Westlake’s novel “The Ax” (1997), a very neat way of saying “late capitalism has been doing this plot for decades”. [FT]
The sketch
Scene 1: Unlimited Choice
Panel description: Cinema membership desk. A man stands at the counter holding a sheet labelled “CV”. A staff member faces him from behind the desk. Above them, a banner reads: “UNLIMITED – NO OTHER CHOICE”.
Dialogue:
- Staff member: “It is freedom. It just renews every month.”
- Man: “So… I am employed by my own boredom.”
Scene 2: The Job Listing
Panel description: A framed noticeboard labelled “OPPORTUNITY” hangs on a wall. Below it sits a tall stack of papers labelled “CV”. An axe lies beside the pile, angled like a punchline.
Dialogue:
- Voice (from the noticeboard area): “Eliminate the competition.”
- Voice (secondary bubble): “Synergy.”
Scene 3: Western Discovery
Panel description: A cinema auditorium seen from the back, rows of seated people facing the front. On the right, a neatly dressed person with glasses holds a clipboard as if moderating a talk. Two speech bubbles float above the crowd, one large and lofty, one small and blunt.
Dialogue:
- Audience voice: “Strange. I have never heard of these actors.”
- Reply from another audience voice: “We have.”
What to watch, not the show
- Subscription economics: cinemas turning into retention machines, not curators.
- Scarcity marketing: “members-only” energy used to mask fragile footfall.
- Distribution chess: streamers buying prestige cinema runs to polish the brand, then pulling you back home. [BBFC]
- The job market narrative cycle: fear sells, especially when it looks stylish.
- The bigger risk: cinemas becoming a place you go only for “events”, while everything else gets quietly demoted.
The Hermit take
Cinema is not dead – it’s just being franchised into a monthly habit.
When a film is this sharp, it exposes the real villain: the business model pretending it isn’t one.
Keep or toss
Keep
Keep the cinema run and the communal voltage.
Toss the idea that “Unlimited” is culture rather than cashflow.
Sources
- BBFC entry for “No Other Choice”: https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/no-other-choice-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0xmdm0ntmx
- Venice Film Festival listing (La Biennale) for “Eojjeol suga eopda (No Other Choice)”: https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2025/venezia-82-competition/eojjeol-suga-eopda-no-other-choice
- Rotten Tomatoes page for “No Other Choice”: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_other_choice
- Financial Times review page for “No Other Choice”: https://www.ft.com/content/a08bf630-3a0a-4912-aad7-89d7e4add042
