This Christmas season will be greeted with a new film by the major South Korean auteur director, Park Chan-wook. Famed for his stylish, cut-to-the-bone thrillers such as Oldboy, Stoker, The Handmaiden, and Decision To Leave, where human intrigue and machinations are staged as elegant operas infused with pitch black comedy, No Other Choice is his latest entry. The film adapts the novel The Ax by Donald E. Westlake, who people may know as the creator of the hardboiled crime character Parker, published under Westlake’s pen name of Richard Stark (film fans may recognize him as the source of classic films such as Point Blank with Lee Marvin and The Outfit with Robert Duvall). The novel tells the story of a corporate worker who, upon being laid off from his job, finds himself driven to plot the murder of his rivals in a bid to secure a new one. Westlake’s book was written in 1997, and previously adapted by Greek-French filmmaker Costa-Gavras in 2005, with the setting transplanted to France.

In this rendition, Park has adjusted the setting to South Korea, which will likely give the story a different context to play off of, even as aspects of the story should remain universal, particularly with concerns of economic forces and the workforce. As of yet, it is unclear whether Park also updated the time period to the 2020s or if the project will be a period piece of some kind. Although the filmmaker has demonstrated a canniness in how to capture the modern world in cinema, as seen in Decision To Leave and its incorporation of digital technology like iPhones into its homage to classic romantic dramas and noirs of the mid-20th century.

No Other Choice stars Lee Byung-hun as Man-soo, the laid-off protagonist. Lee first worked with Park on his breakout film JSA almost 25 years ago. Worldwide Lee is recognizable for his roles as Storm Shadow in the G.I. Joe film series, and more recent cultural juggernauts like Squid Game and KPop Demon Hunters. Actress Son Ye-ji co-stars as Miri, the wife of Man-soo. Though Son is a major star in South Korea, particularly in the genre of romantic dramas with the likes of The Classic and April Snow, she is comparatively less recognizable to Western audiences. Though like Lee, she has collaborated with Park in the past, having starred in the thriller The Truth Beneath, which Park had co-written, with No Other Choice being the first he will personally direct her on a feature film.

Neon set to distribute the film, having previously distributed the Palme d’Or and Oscar-winning films Parasite and Anora. The former was directed by Park Chan-wook’s compatriot, Bong Joon-ho. Whether Neon is able to continue their trend of advancing unique auteur-driven films to major awards players with Park’s film remains to be seen.