After giving the best years of his life to a paper mill, Man-su (Squid Game star Lee Byung Hun) has been axed. Standing to lose everything and fearing too much competition in his niche sector, Man-su hits on an ingenious scheme to guarantee the kind of position he so richly deserves: He will invent a fictitious paper company, invite his peers in for a meeting, and dispatch of his rivals, one by one.
Adapting the 1997 novel The Ax by Donald E. Westlake (previously filmed in France by Costa-Gavras), virtuoso filmmaker Park Chan-wook whips up another delicious blend of high style, suspense, and satire, in keeping with his previous classics Oldboy, The Handmaiden, and Decision to Leave. Park’s latest sees him reteaming with Don McKellar, his collaborator on HBO’s The Sympathizer.
Oscar Submission: South Korea
Cooperating Organizations
Media Partner
Park Chan-wook
Lee Byung Hun, Son Yejin, Park Hee Soon, Lee Sung Min, Yeom Hye Ran, Cha Seung Won
South Korea
2025
In Korean with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Credits
Executive Producer
Miky Lee
Producer
Park Chan-wook, Back Jisun, Michèle Ray Gavras, Alexandre Gavras
Screenwriter
Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, Jahye Lee
Cinematography
Kim Woo-hyung
Editor
Kim Sang-beom, Kim Ho-bin
Production Design
Ryu Seong-hie
Original Music
Cho Young-wuk
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Blue Trail
77-year-old Tereza makes a break for the Brazilian jungle in this trippy septuagenarian fantasy, the latest from Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro is a quirky picaresque, lushly photographed and filled with mordant humour.
Calle Málaga
Seventy-nine-year-old María Ángeles lives independently in Tangier's Spanish quarter. When her daughter pressures her into selling her apartment, she refuses to give in, finding in her old age a new resilience and an unexpected romantic connection.
Two Prosecutors
In the midst of Stalin’s purges, a naïve prosecutor sets out to investigate a prisoner’s innocence, unaware of the labyrinthine bureaucracy awaiting him. A Kafkaesque procedural thriller about the pursuit of justice in the face of corruption.
Image: © SBS Productions
The Skeleton of Mrs Morales
In this delightful black comedy, an avuncular taxidermist (our old amigo Arturo de Córdova) is beloved by many but not his wife (Amparo Rivelles), a religious fanatic who can't bear to be touched. One day she pushes him too far...
The Eyes of Ghana
In his debut feature doc Ben Proudfoot unearths the story — and the images — of Chris Hesse, personal cameraman to Ghana's revolutionary leader, Kwame Nkrumah, who was deposed in a coup in 1966. This is a fascinating history reclaimed from the archives.