Lee Byung-hun in 'No Other Choice.' Courtesy of Venice Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Think of No Other Choice (Eojjeol Suga Eopda) as something akin to Kind Hearts and Coronets that trades the Edwardian English aristocracy for the contemporary Korean industrial job market, and you'll have some idea of the tricky tonal balancing act it requires. Which makes it sad to report that Park Chan-wook stumbles on some jarring shifts. The movie remains the work of a master craftsman with his own idiosyncratic storytelling signature, though the pathos and suspense of a hardworking family man driven by desperation to murder get short-changed in favor of wacky humor. The second screen adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's novel The Ax - following Costa-Gavras' 2005 French version - is by no means without pleasures. Notable among them are its gorgeous visual crispness, crazy camera angles and exhilarating zooms; its two appealing leads; its amusing jabs at capitalism; and an inventive ending that is both a victory over the cruelty of corporate redundancies and a sobering acknowledgement of the grim prospects for humans in an automated workforce. Related Stories Movies 'Below the Clouds' Review: Gianfranco Rosi's Stunning Doc Explores Life Beneath Mount Vesuvius, Today and in Ancient Times Movies 'Frankenstein' Star Christoph Waltz on Guillermo del Toro's Practical Filmmaking: "CGI is For Losers" No Other Choice The Bottom Line Starts and finishes in fine form but loses itself midway. Venue: Venice Film Festival (Competition)Cast: Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ranDirector: Park Chan-wookScreenwriters: Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, Jahye Lee, based on the Donald E. Westlake novel, The Ax 2 hours 19 minutes The director made his name in the early 2000s with instant cult hits like the operatically violent revenge fantasy Oldboy. But his intoxicating last two features, the sumptuous erotic period thriller The Handmaiden and the intricate neo-noir puzzle Decision to Leave, have seen his unerring control and painstaking attention to detail sharpened in elegant new ways. That makes the more wayward style of the new film a disappointment, particularly given that it's been a 20-year dream project for Park. Still, many of the director's admirers will embrace the broad comedy and slapstick antics, even if they lessen the stakes for a protagonist who's a thoroughly decent man until a crisis that threatens everything he has worked for transforms him into the clumsiest killer in homicide history. It's key to Park's handle on the material that the character retains much of his innocence, even after getting blood on his hands. Though he's now most widely known as the Front Man on Squid Game, Lee Byung-hun was one of the stars of the director's first hit, Joint Security Area. He's ideally cast here as Man-su, a paper mill manager with 25 years of company loyalty. The promising set-up is a birthday celebration for his wife Miri (Son Ye-jin, wonderful) in the garden out front of their odd-looking but picturesque house (quirky architecture is one of the movie's visual charms). Man-su gathers Miri, their teen son (Kim Woo-seung) and younger daughter (Choi so-yul) in a group hug under a sprinkling of cherry blossoms from the tree that spreads out above them while their two adorable golden retrievers - I mean seriously adorable - get in on the affection. It's almost comically idyllic, which is clearly intended when Man-su looks up and sighs with gratitude, "I have it all," something no one has ever said in a movie without immediately losing it. In a cruel joke, he learns that the expensive eel on his barbecue sent by the mill's management is like a gold watch kiss-off, in this case marking involuntary retirement. He arrives at work and spreads the grim news among his team that the new American owners have indicated there will be job losses. One of them turns out to be Man-su's. Park mines poignancy and mordant humor from a support group for recently unemployed men, where they work on their emasculation issues and tell themselves in motivational exercises that their loving families will stand behind them while they seek new opportunities. But despite a pledge to himself to land a new job in his sector, he's stacking cartons at a big box store 13 months later. Miri is pragmatic at home, cutting down on expenses - no more Netflix for the kids or tennis lessons for Mom - and putting the house on the market, with plans to move them into an apartment. She informs her husband that with foreclosure only three months away, it's their only way to pay off their debts and stay afloat. She also returns part-time to her dental hygienist job at a practice where Man-su suspects the handsome dentist of having designs on her. What most