Dear Public Diary ,

Since this movie was released, I kept telling myself I’d watch it “later.” I don’t even know why. Maybe it was because it’s two hours and a half long, maybe because life kept happening… but when I finally made time for it, I felt almost foolish for waiting. Every minute was worth it. It felt like perfection dressed as a film — dark, strange, uncomfortable, beautiful — and I’m genuinely shocked that it passed so quietly without making the noise it deserves.

Before even talking about it, let me say this clearly: I totally recommend it. If you’ve watched Parasite, you’ll feel something similar here — the hidden meanings, the subtle weirdness, the sharp satire, the way the director turns ugliness into brilliance. I tried to find flaws, and I honestly couldn’t.

Let’s talk about the plot.

It’s new, twisted, and dark — but not the usual kind of darkness. This one has a strange comedic flavor, the kind of humor that makes you nervous while laughing. The story follows a man who loses his job in a paper factory after dedicating years of his life to it. Suddenly, he becomes replaceable. Disposable. Just another worker among millions. When the company decides to bring in new candidates, he panics. He tells himself, “They can’t replace me… they can’t.” And that’s where everything begins.

From that moment on, his obsession becomes simple: be the only choice the company has left. So he starts eliminating every candidate who threatens his position. Not because he’s a serial killer. Not because he enjoys violence. But because, in his mind, he’s doing what he must to keep his family alive. At one point he even says, “I didn’t want to kill anyone… but what else could I do?”

That sentence stayed with me.

The crimes were clumsy and imperfect, yet performed with a strange calmness. Watching him bury people, plan the murders, hide the traces — I felt stressed, but also weirdly sympathetic. He’s not evil. He’s just hopeless. A man who loved his family more than he loved morality. The movie shows just how fragile we all are, how a single event — losing your job — can transform a normal person into something cold and unrecognizable. The writer captured that transition perfectly, and the actor made it feel painfully real. Sometimes I forgot it was acting.

Another thing I loved was how the movie portrayed lifestyle inflation. Every time he earned a little more, he upgraded his life… until he couldn’t go back anymore. They built a lifestyle just to “look” wealthy — new house, new school, new expenses — but when he lost his job, they couldn’t return to their old life. And that’s a mistake so many people make: when your lifestyle grows faster than your salary, you become a prisoner of appearances. The film shows this brutally but honestly.

Symbolism also plays a beautiful role in the movie. The toothache — my favorite detail. From the beginning, he keeps complaining about that relentless pain. It represents guilt, eating him from the inside. And the moment he finally pulls it out is the moment he changes completely. The guilt stops. He becomes colder. Focused. Determined to “finish what he started,” because as he says, “If I stop now, everything I did before would be meaningless.”

Then there’s capitalism — the silent villain of the film. The heartless system. The idea that workers are nothing but tools. Replaceable. Emotionless. In one of the interviews, the employer calmly admits they only need one person to supervise the machines. One. And that moment… oh God. It hits you. Because that means he will have to keep killing every new candidate forever to keep his job safe. It’s horrifying, brilliant, and painfully real.

Another theme I felt deeply: identity. He worked in the paper industry for so long that he couldn’t imagine himself doing anything else. Even when he was fired, he didn’t believe he could start over. And honestly… I felt that. I still identify myself with my field of study too, even after years of working in other industries. I still introduce myself with my old title. I still see myself going back to it someday. So when I saw him clinging to his past, refusing to see himself as anything other than “a paper man,” it felt… too real.

The movie also shows how desperation destroys morality. When people lose hope, they switch into survival mode. Right and wrong disappear. Only survival remains. And society’s expectations make it worse — especially the idea that a man must always provide for his family. If he can’t, he’s not a man anymore. I grew up in a society that teaches that too, so I understood his fear, his pride, his panic. Maybe it’s wrong to put all that pressure on men. Maybe it’s outdated. But it’s real.

I could write about this movie for so much longer, but I think I should stop the words here… I’ve already made it long enough.

And at the end of all this, I realized something: it’s been a long time since I wrote about something with this much excitement. When a movie makes me feel this much — when I carry it in my mind long after it ends — that means something. And it means you should watch it too.

So, dear reader, I’ll leave you with one question:

Do you think he truly had no other choice?