"No Other Choice" Deserves its Blue Dragon / Gotham nods!

by Nathaniel R

Byung Hun Lee is perfection in "No Other Choice" from CJ ENM / NEON

I had the pleasure of seeing No Other Choice by Park Chan wook shortly before its three well deserved Gotham nominations. The tragicomic thriller is about a manager at a specialty paper factor who is suddenly laid off. Desperate to maintain his lifestyle in a shrinking job market he begins to obsess over the few men who might be better candidates for a job opening. I was especially happy to see Lee Byung-hun nominated for Best Lead Performance. I recognize that he has an uphill battle ahead of him for Best Actor Oscar consideration but if it were a merit based contest alone he'd be a shoo-in. At least he's worked in Hollywood regularly so he won't have the 'no one knows them' campaign problem some overseas stars encounter when they do award-worthy work. Still, we know that the acting branch is quite resistant to Asian actors even when they're in buzzy major Oscar players -- Everything Everywhere All At Once being the miracle exception after Slumdog Millionaire, Last Emperor, Crouching Tiger and more -- and that's such a pity. The star is truly inspired here with a continuously surprising performance full of physical comedy, emotional undertows, and tonal command.  I can safely guarantee you that far less deserving performances are bound to suck up a lot of oxygen in the forthcoming awards race.

Frankly, I will be furious if No Other Choice isn't (at least) Oscar nominated in Best International Feature Film at the Oscars. No Other Choice won't be a lock but it has a shot...

For one thing it's far more accessible than Park's last submission (Decision to Leave) in that while it offers up the same kind of auteur-high it's quite funny and not remotely as hard to follow. I hope we also see Park Chan Wook talked up for the Best Director. His achievement this time is not unlike P.T. Anderson's in One Battle After Another. Both films have their auteur doing a gob-smaking juggling act with disparate tones, incredible performances, unexpected visuals, plot surprises, upsetting/funny action sequences, and political thematic punches all perpetually tossed in the air without any of them ever fumbled or dropped; in short these films unmistakably have true masters behind the camera.

I was happy to see that No Other Choice is all over the Blue Dragon Film Awards nominations at home in South Korea, leading with 12 citations. The ceremony is just a week away now. All five of their Best Film nominees have had or will have US releases. Let's start with a chart visual to show the non repetitive Best Film battles in South Korea from their three major film awards...

South Korea has three major film awards that start with the letter B (Blue Dragon, Buil, and Baeksang Arts) which is quite confusing to this American. Those three awards also have different eligibilty calendars which helps make the big South Korean awards far less repetitive than their counterparts in the US which all bunch up around the Oscars and overlap to an annoying degree. After the jump a comparison of all three Best Film lists (and whether or not you can see the films in the US) and more on No Other Choice...

BEST FILM
BLUE DRAGON AWARDS Ceremony Nov 19 (eligibility ran from October '24 through October '25)	BUIL FILM AWARDS Ceremony Sept 18 (eligibility ran from August '24 through July '25)	BAEKSANG ARTS AWARDS Ceremony May 5 (eligibility ran from April '24 through May '25)
Harbin [STREAMING ON HULU]	Harbin [STREAMING ON HULU]	★  Harbin [STREAMING ON HULU]
My Daughter is a Zombie	★  House of the Seasons	House of the Seasons
No Other Choice	Uprising [STREAMING ON NETFLIX]	Uprising [STREAMING ON NETFLIX]
The Old Woman With a Knife	Land of the Morning Calm	Love in the Big City
The Ugly	What Does Nature Say to You?	Revolver [STREAMING ON PRIME]

The only film to be nominated for the top prize across all three ceremonies is Harbin [STREAMING ON HULU] which is a war drama about resistance fighters who fought the Japanese to regain Korea's independence. Harbin managed to win the Baeksang. Then it subsequently lost the Buil Film Awards to House of the Seasons which is a drama about three generations of a family that owns a tofu factory. The latter has zero nominations at the Blue Dragons.

With Baeksang Arts and Build Awards already handed out, let's focus on the Blue Dragon Awards since they take place next week.  

All five Best Picture nominees will be available to US audiences. The nominees and a few comments follow...

Best Picture

• “No Other Choice” - US Theatrical Release December 25
• “The Ugly” - Recently had a theatrical release in the US
• “My Daughter Is a Zombie” -Recently had a theatrical release in the the US. Streaming on a service called "On Demand Korea"
• “The Old Woman With the Knife” - Recently had a theatrical release in the the US. 
• “Harbin” - Streaming on Hulu 

Best Director 

• Min Kyu Dong (“The Old Woman With the Knife”)
• Park Chan Wook (“No Other Choice”)
• Yeon Sang Ho (“The Ugly”)
• Woo Min Ho (“Harbin”)
• Pil Gam Seong (“My Daughter Is a Zombie”)

The Best Director list is an exact match with Picture.

Best New Director

• Kim Min Ha (“Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary”)
• Kim Soo Jin (“Noise”)
• Kim Hye Young (“IT’s OKAY!”)
• Park Joon Ho (“3670”)
• Jang Byung Ki (“When This Summer is Over”)

Best Actor

• Park Jung Min (“The Ugly”)
• Sul Kyung Gu (“A Normal Family”)
• Lee Byung Hun (“No Other Choice”) 
• Jo Jung Suk (“My Daughter Is a Zombie”)
• Hyun Bin (“Harbin”)

This is Lee Byung-hun's 13th (!) Best Actor nomination at the Blue Dragon Awards and if he wins it will be his third trophy in this category. His previous lead nominations (wins underlined): Joint Security Area (2000), Bungee Jumping of Their Own (2001), Addicted (2002), A Bittersweet Life (2005), The Good The Bad The Weird (2008), I Saw the Devil (2010), Masquerade (2012), Inside Men (2016), The Fortress (2017), The Man Standing Next (2020), Emergency Declaration (2022), and Concrete Utopia (2023). In addition to the Blue Dragons he's also won multiple times at ALL of the other key Korean Film Awards (Baeksang, Buil, and the now defunct Grand Bell) as well as winning the major critics awards (Busan Film Critics, Korean Association of Film Critics).

To make his enormous haul even more impressive consider that he already won Best Actor THIS YEAR at  the Buil Film Awards for a different film altogether, The Match [STREAMING ON NETFLIX], which is a true story about a Go champion whose protege turns against his teachings (the popular young star Yoo Ah-In from Burning, The Throne, and Hellbound plays the protege). The Match is up for some craft prizes at the Blue Dragons but no acting awards.

Best Actress

Lee Byung Hun & Son Ye Jin star in "No Other Choice"

• Son Ye Jin (“No Other Choice”)
• Song Hye Kyo (“Dark Nuns”) - AVAILABLE TO RENT
• Lee Jae In (“Hi-Five”) - AVAILABLE TO RENT 
• Lee Hye Young (“The Old Woman With the Knife”)
• Lim Yoona (“Pretty Crazy”)

Here's something I have to share just to surprise longtime readers. Here is an instance where I would put someone in Supporting in my own prizes when they're being pitched as Lead with awards. This almost never happens so imagine my surprise. Anyway, Son Ye Jin is great as Lee Byung Hun's increasingly suspicious wife in No Other Choice. The film is certainly about the family and her role is large, but it's a supporting role in that the narrative is always completely centered on, rotating around, and fixated on the actions and interiority of a single protagonist. 

The only repeat player from the earlier Buil Awards is Lee Hye Young, that old woman with the knife!

Best Supporting Actor

Park Jung Min is a loyal comrade in "HARBIN"

• Kwon Hae Hyo (“The Ugly”)
• Kim Sung Cheol (“The Old Woman With the Knife”)
• Park Jung Min (“Harbin”) - STREAMING ON HULU
• Yoon Kyung Ho (“My Daughter Is a Zombie”)
• Lee Sung Min (“No Other Choice”)

None of these men were nominated at either of the previous Korean film awards this year. What makes that especially surprising is that a Supporting Actor from Harbin was up for both of those earlier prizes but it wasn't Park Jung Min -- South Korean awards voters be spreading the wealth! 

In terms of No Other Choice, Lee Sung Min plays Lee Byung Hun's main rival and I think he'll be hard to beat. It's a largely comic flopsweat performance but endearing, too. This is his 7th Blue Dragon nomination (and a reunion with his Man Standing Next co-star) but he has yet to win.

Best Supporting Actress

Jeon Yeo Been plays an initially reluctant participant in exorcisms in "Dark Nuns"

• Park Ji Hyun (“Hidden Face”) - AVAILABLE TO RENT
• Shin Hyun Been (“The Ugly”)
• Yeom Hye Ran (“No Other Choice”)
• Lee Jung Eun (“My Daughter Is a Zombie”)
• Jeon Yeo Been (“Dark Nuns”) - AVAILABLE TO RENT

Jeon Yeo Been (Dark Nuns - a possession drama that's available to rent in the US) is the only Supporting Actress to be nominated at all three of the Korean ceremonies this year. She didn't win the Buil or the Baeksang so this is her last shot. 

Yeom Hye-ran plays the sneaky aggressive and unhinged wife of Lee Sung Min in No Other Choice, and gets a couple really juicy scenes including a memorable three-way brawl.

Best New Actor

A still from "3670"

• Park Jinyoung (“Hi-Five”) - AVAILABLE TO RENT
• Ahn Bo Hyun (“Pretty Crazy”)
• Ahn Hyo Seop (“Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy”) - STREAMING ON PLEX
• Jung Sung Il (“Uprising”) - STREAMING ON NETFLIX
• Cho You Hyun (“3670”)

Wanted to note here that 3670 sounds interesting. It's a gay film in which Cho You Hyun plays a closeted North Korean defector who is secretly exploring the gay community of Seoul.

The only repeat nominee here from the previous Korean film awards is Jung Sung Il who won the Baeksang for Uprising [STREAMING ON NETFLIX].

Best New Actress

Roh Yoon-seo in "Hear Me: Our Summer"

• Kim Doyeon (“Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary”)
• Kim Min Ju (“Hear Me: Our Summer”)
• Roh Yoon Seo (“Hear Me: Our Summer”)
• Lee Sun Bin (“Noise”)
• Hong Ye Ji (“A Normal Family”)

Roh Yoon Seo (Hear Me: Our Summer) won this category at the Baeksang and then lost the category at the Buil Awards... but she was up for all three of the ceremonies which, as you've seen in this post,  is rare.

Best Cinematography and Lighting

• “No Other Choice”
• “The Ugly”
• “Uprising”
• “Harbin”
• “Hi-Five”

Harbin won for Cinematography at the Buil Awards. Could it repeat?

Best Screenplay

• “The Match" - STREAMING ON NETFLIX
• “No Other Choice”
• “The Ugly”
• “Uprising” - STREAMING ON NETFLIX
• “Hi-Five”

Uprising was nominated in this category at all three of the Korean film awards... it won the Baeksang.

Best Music

• “No Other Choice”
• “Uprising” - STREAMING ON NETFLIX
• “My Daughter Is a Zombie”
• “Harbin”
• “Hi-Five”

It's a battle of previous winners: Uprising won score at the Baeksang Awards while Hi-Five took the prize at the Buils. Will one of them prove a repeat winner or will No Other Choice's great score take charge? 

Best Art Direction

Yoo Ah-in and Lee Byung-hun are rivals in THE MATCH {Streaming on Netflix]

• “The Match” - STREAMING ON NETFLIX
• “No Other Choice”
• “The Ugly”
• “Uprising” - STREAMING ON NETFLIX
• “Harbin” - STREAMING ON HULU

Best Editing

• “The Match” -STREAMING ON NETFLIX
• “No Other Choice”
• “The Ugly”
• “Harbin” - STREAMING ON HULU
• “Hi-Five” - AVAILABLE TO RENT

Best Technical Achievement

• “Noise” (sound)
• “No Other Choice” (costume)
• “The Ugly” (makeup)
• “Omniscient Reader” (VFX)
• “The Old Woman With the Knife” (martial arts)

The costume nomination for No Other Choice is a bit surprising (at least in the context of US prizes which rarely choose contemporary films) but the designs are fun, especially when it comes to the lead's idea of what he should wear to commit his crimes. Okay maybe it's not so surprising given that there's also a costume party within the plot that both spouses attend which proves to be a stand-out sequence.

The 46th Blue Dragon Film Awards will take place on November 19. Rooting for No Other Choice of course but would love to see some of its competition.  Do not miss No Other Choice when it hits US theaters in December.