AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The job market is brutal these days, but for former paper factory employee Man-su, it becomes murder, literally. Man-su was once pulp man of the Year, but now out of work, he's desperate, so much so that when his wife says of a competitor - compared to my husband, he is nothing. Can't he get hit by lightning?
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "NO OTHER CHOICE")
SON YE-JIN: (As Lee Mi-ri, speaking non-English language).
RASCOE: ...He gets his own idea. Why can't he just take out his competition? "No Other Choice" is the newest film by South Korean director Park Chan-wook. Through his interpreter Jiwon Lee, Park started by laying out his inspiration for the movie, a 1997 novel called "The Ax" by the American author Donald Westlake.
PARK CHAN-WOOK: (Through interpreter) I thought this idea behind the novel was so brilliant, the fact that this main character - if someone has this job that he wants, he's hoping that this man would get an accident, and that would be nice. But then he realizes that that wouldn't directly bring him the benefit of the job. So the main character decides to do something that is very similar to the very company that fired him. He creates a fake company and collects resumes and chooses the best candidate. And here lies one difference between the company and the main character, which is that the company would hire the best candidate, but the main character would eliminate that best candidate. And the act of elimination is also very similar to how companies fire people as well.
(Through interpreter) And another thing that interested me is this role and responsibility of a man within the family. So after this main character has lost his job, he feels that he's also lost respect from his wife and his son. But then he regains his self-confidence as a man as he begins to successfully kill other people because he feels that he's one step closer to getting a job again.
RASCOE: The other men he's competing with - they're desperate men, too, right? Does Man-su feel guilty targeting people who are also desperate in their lives like him?
PARK: (Through interpreter) Yes, this is actually something the audience should acutely follow as they watch the film. So at first, Man-su has a very difficult time with his task, and he can't handle it. And when he's taking care of his first victim, he can't even do the job of killing this man himself. But gradually, he becomes more confident and more experienced. And he realizes that since I've already started this journey, it's irreversible now, so he starts to feel less and less guilt. And this is not an enjoyable experience for the audience because this is a man that the audience has been rooting for and has had sympathy for. But to watch this man become more cold-blooded and less morally sensitive, it's actually quite a painful journey.
RASCOE: Is it the job market or even just capitalism? Is that what makes Man-su feel dehumanized?
PARK: (Through interpreter) This is not a movie that puts all of those responsibilities on the system. And in fact, I want to push the audience more to look into the individual sense of morality, as well. So there's many issues and elements that are going through in Man-su's mind that causes him to do what he does. For instance, the materialist desires of the middle class - this desire to not fall below the current lifestyle that they're living, not even a little bit. And in addition to that, although this is also somewhat caused by society as well, but the issue of masculinity, how a father and a husband who can't make money for the family - how they lose confidence because they feel that they've lost a sense of authority within their family, so this man becomes more twisted and more pained. I think a combination of all of those elements is what leads Man-su to make the foolish decisions that he makes.
RASCOE: How do you balance humor, tension and drama when making a movie like this?
PARK: (Through interpreter) In most of the works that I've made, at an unpredictable moment, a strange humor kicks in. That's how I like to make my movies.
(Through interpreter) For instance, in a scene in "Oldboy" where the main character is eating a living squid, he's doing this because he's been in prison for so long. So he's searching for a sense of life and vivacity. And we watch this squid cover his face and squirm all over his face.
(SOUNDBITE OF SQUID SQUIRMING)
PARK: (Through interpreter) When you use the terminology like mixing or balancing, it inherently implies that you're combining different things, but I never separate them when I'm making my films. Negative emotions like sadness or anger or being scared - I think that is inherently connected to what causes humor in the first place, which is why I consider all of them as one inseparable entity. I think from how I've lived life, if I think back to the moments in my own life, there were no moments that were purely sad or purely scary. Depending on the perspective, it could also feel very funny.
RASCOE: A lot of established filmmakers kind of struggle to work cell phones into their movies, but that's not the case with you. Cell phones play a big role in this movie. How do you make cell phones cinematic?
PARK: (Through interpreter) In my previous film "Decision To Leave" and on this one, as well, I tried to actively utilize phones, but it wasn't because I had some great meaning or intention behind that. I just wanted to accept the fact that phones play a very big role in our modern society, so much so that you could almost call it an extension of our body or our brains, as well. And I didn't want to avoid or shy away from that reality or minimize their significance in the society that we live in.
(Through interpreter) And in this film, I also incorporated the video call, which a lot of people do these days. And Man-su does this a lot with his wife, and they do this because they're so close, and they have nothing to hide from each other.
RASCOE: You almost made this movie in America, but ultimately, you didn't. Is this a story that can work in almost any time or place?
PARK: (Through interpreter) The reason why I didn't give up on developing this project, even though it took me a very long time, is that whenever I would tell the story of the film to someone, regardless of where they are from, they would say, oh, this sounds just like the problems in our country. So it really affirmed to me that anyone in the capitalist system feel that the story is relevant to them and that it would always feel timely because job security has been an issue in all of these societies for such a long time. So before I made this into a Korean film, I tried to develop this as an American film for a while, but I changed my mind and decided to make this a Korean film. And it actually surprised me how easy it was to change the script from an American script to a Korean script. And after we made this film as a Korean film, as well, seeing the audiences outside of Korea being able to empathize with the same issues that were portrayed in the film, I think it really reaffirmed for me that this story is truly universal.
RASCOE: That's director Park Chan-wook. His new movie, "No Other Choice," is in theaters now. Thank you for joining us.
PARK: (Through interpreter) Thank you.
RASCOE: And thank you to his interpreter, Jiwon Lee.
JIWON LEE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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