No Other Choice is a 2025 dark comedy directed by Park Chan-wook, written by Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, and Lee Ja-hye. It is adapted from 1997 novel The Axe by Donald Westlake. It stars Lee Byung-hun plays Yoo Man-su, who has lost his longstanding position at a paper mill and must search for work in a shrinking job market. To reduce the competition he enacts a plan to kill the better qualified individuals for a job opening he will create through more murder so that he may once again provide for his family. This family includes his wife Lee Mi-ri (Son Ye-jin), son Si-one (Woo Seung Kim), daughter Ri-one (So Yul Choi), and dogs Si-two and Ri-two.

Time Stamps:

• (01:00) Atlas Shrugged Part I & II
• (37:34) Full Time
• (47:48) Z
• (1:02:30) No Other Choice
• (1:47:58) Spoilers
• (2:20:40) Next Time: 2025 wrap up and Hamnet

Works Cited:

• Atlas Shrugged: Part I (Paul Johannson, 2011)
• Atlas Shrugged: Part II (John Putch, 2012)
• Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who is John Galt? (J. James Manera, 2014)
• The Axe (Costa-Gavras, 2005)
• The Ax (Donald E. Westlake, 1997)
• Big Sister is Watching You (Whittaker Chambers, 1957)
• A Brief Look at Texting and the Internet in Film (Tony Szhou, 2014)
• The Fountainhead (King Vidor, 1949)
• Full Time (Éric Gravel, 2021)
• No Other Choice (Park Chan-Wook, 2025)
• "No Other Choice" Eliminates the Competition with Style (Justin Chang, 2025)
• Taggart Trainwreck, Part 1 (Ben Verschoor, 2012)
• Z (Costa-Gavras, 1969)
• Z movie review & film summary (1969) | Roger Ebert (Roger Ebert, 1969)
• Z: Sounding the Alarm (Armond White, 2009)

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Ben Verschoor

• https://cinema-purgatorio.ghost.io/
• https://letterboxd.com/jamn4sure/
• @benverschoor.bsky.social

Steven Santana

• https://breakingarrows.substack.com/
• https://letterboxd.com/number8axel/
• @number8axel.bsky.social‬

Opening music is "Root Beer Rag" by Billy Joel

Closing music is "G-Spot Tornado" by Frank Zappa

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