The One No Other Choice Scene That Proves Park Chan-wook Deserves the Oscar
Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice is already storming the 98th Academy Awards race, riding raves from its premiere and a viral X clip of characters casually scrolling through an arsenal of guns, just weeks before its US debut.
I caught a clip from Park Chan-wook's new one, 'No Other Choice', and yeah, the guy is still cooking. The movie's already a critics' darling overseas, it lands in the US next month, and people are already throwing around 'front-runner' for the 98th Academy Awards. Bold, but not crazy.
The shot everyone is passing around
The scene making the rounds on X (posted Nov 20, 2025 by @seoraehaejun) looks simple: characters swiping through gun options on a tablet. On paper, that's nothing. In practice, it's Chan-wook doing Chan-wook. He doesn't point a camera at a screen and call it a day. He frames it so the tablet's reflection gives you the action, and he lines up the image so the gun barrels on the screen point straight at the character doing the browsing. It's a quiet visual joke and a threat at the same time, hinting their plan could very much blow back in their face. Not flashy, just sharp.
Why that tiny choice matters
Movies almost never know what to do with smartphones. Watching someone scroll is cinematic Ambien, and a lot of directors either cheat around it or avoid modern tech entirely. Robert Eggers has even said the idea of filming a phone kills a scene.
Eggers on cell phones in movies: 'is just death' (via THR)
Chan-wook doesn't duck the problem. He bends it to his style so the tech serves the story and the shot, not the other way around. That's the trick: keep the tension, keep the composition, and let the device be part of the filmmaking grammar instead of a dead prop. It sounds small, but you feel it.
So how real is the Oscar talk?
Given his track record, it would not be wild to see Chan-wook finally get a real run at it. You could make a case he should've had an Oscar on the shelf ages ago: the Vengeance trilogy, 2016's 'The Handmaiden', and the 'Decision to Leave' snub still stings. Honestly, most of his post-'JSA' work could have been in the mix.
'No Other Choice' is entering that conversation fast. As of right now, it's sitting at 7.9 on IMDb and a clean 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. It also has the advantage of timing: it opens in the US right in the thick of awards season. The Academy has gotten better about embracing international films that aren't purely in English — 'Parasite' being the big example — which does not hurt.
- Why there's real momentum: runaway critical buzz; the movie actually solves the modern-tech-on-camera problem; a prime US release window; and an Academy that's more open to global cinema.
It's not a walkover. This season looks crowded, with 'Sinners', 'One Battle After Another', and 'Hamnet' all expected to be heavy hitters, plus whatever else pops in late. But based on the response so far, 'No Other Choice' has a legit shot to end Chan-wook's Oscar drought.
Release plan
'No Other Choice' opens in select US theaters on December 25, then expands wide on January 6, 2026.