Overview
- Park Chan-wook’s new film earns high praise for its darkly comic take on layoffs and the devaluation of work, with critics calling it gripping and formally ambitious.
- The story follows a laid-off paper-company manager who targets job rivals, a premise adapted from Donald E. Westlake’s 1997 novel The Ax.
- The film is dedicated to Costa-Gavras, who previously adapted the same book, underscoring its lineage as a contemporary reinterpretation.
- Lee Byung-hun stars as Man-su with Son Ye-jin as his wife, while critics single out Kim Woo-hyung’s inventive cinematography for standout visual storytelling.
- Park says he won’t shy away from social issues, describing the film as an examination of job security, family pressures, and constrained ideas of masculinity, as it heads into UK and Irish cinemas on Friday.