No Other Choice (2025)

No Other Choice

• Geez. Going into this, I had an idea of what I was looking for, and while this was delivered in every department, there’s still so many elements that absolutely blew me out of the water. There’s so much to take in, and even though this is a little short of being two and a half hours, I felt like I didn’t have enough time to absorb everything. I had plenty of time, but it’s just one of those films where I could keep watching for another two or three hours. The plot takes very modern themes of corporations, layoffs, and those kinds of work related situations, and turns them into an absolutely genius comedic thriller. I wasn’t expecting something this funny, and yet, here we are. There were some moments where I was completely sucked in, filled with anticipation and suspense. Then on the flipside, there were some moments where I was just giggling and having a great time. It kind of went back and forth between serious and comedic, while still being combined at the same time. That doesn’t make sense, but it does to me. It’s just immaculately written and easily the best put together South Korean film since ‘Parasite’. Speaking of immaculate, the editing and cinematography was among some of the best I’ve ever seen in my entire life. And that’s out of around 1,300 films that I’ve seen, as of this writing. There are some transitions and shot compositions that completely shatter your understanding of the universe, and I know I’ll be thinking about this film for days to come. The performances are all fantastic, with Lee Byung-hun giving a riveting, hilarious, and borderline psychopathic outing. He should’ve had a bigger awards campaign, because he absolutely kills it (haha, see what I did there?). Lastly, the score was quite phenomenal. It almost had a whimsical, carefree feel, adding a surreal element to the already surreal atmosphere. However, it also felt very grounded, emotional, and somewhat sentimental. Overall, this is one of the best foreign films I’ve ever seen, and the fact that it wasn’t nominated for Best International Feature Film is a crime against cinema. But what can you do? I would recommend this to all comedy/thriller fans, especially if you like films like ‘Parasite’. This film is officially Berry Approved, so go watch it now!