#TIFF2025 # ParkChan-wook. NoOtherChoice, #InternationalPeoplesChoiceAward # TorontoInternationalFilmFestival # Man-Soo # Paul Mescal #SouthKoreaCinema #DonaldEWestlake, #OscarRace2025 # festivalWinners, #Mi-ri
Toronto/CMEDIA: ‘No other Choice’ filmmaker Park Chan-wook’s adaptation of a novel by Donald E. Westlake (The Ax), has reportedly garnered TIFF 2025 International People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2025).
‘I believe this is a story that must be seen, and I hope to continue greeting audiences with films that you will have no other choice but to watch…I humbly accept it not just as an award for myself, but as recognition of the proud achievement and growth Korean culture has made throughout the world’, Lee has said in his acceptance speech.
Set in South Korea, starring Lee Byung-hun as Man-Soo TIFF 2025 film ‘No other Choice’ was one of TIFF’s Gala presentations that soon gained International popularity. The award, presented by Rogers, is considered a key indicator for the upcoming awards season with the hope of an Oscar recognition.
‘No other Choice’ a Satirical Thriller on the capitalist agenda is about Man-Soo, a desperate man turned merciless by unemployment devising a plan to eliminate his competition.
The plot of story follows Mon-Soo with a loving wife, Son Yejin as Mi-ri, two talented children, and two happy dogs. He even bought the beautiful forest-enclosed house where he grew up. Then, after 25 years of dedicated work for Solar Paper, where he was awarded Pulp Man of the Year in 2019, Man-soo is suddenly laid off. Soon he is falling behind on his mortgage payments. So he devises a plan to invent a phony paper company, reach out to each of his rivals and to eliminate any other unemployed men with the necessary qualifications
When asked if he might try employment outside the paper industry, Man-su stubbornly says he has “no other choice” and he says he had “no other choice” but to eliminate his competitors to get the job.
Scripted by Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Jahye Lee, and Toronto’s Don McKellar, ‘No Other Choice’ is a satire on workplace politics and heartless status-seeking.
Man-Soo remains firmly planted in the middle-ground between self-preservation and murderous intent since he has “no other choice.” The film gets back on track with decisive intervention from Miri to fix Man-su’s flawed efforts.
Park dedicated the film to Costa-Gavras, who held the rights to the novel and worked with the Korean director in the initial development stages, when it was planned as an English-language remake.
