In the beautiful garden of his lovely house, a man is barbecuing eels. They’re a gift from his employer. He calls over his wife Mi-ri and two children, hugs them, and says: ‘I have it all.’ Man-soo, a middle manager in a paper mill, and recently acclaimed ‘Pulp Man of the Year’, tells Mi-ri that the eels show how much he’s valued.
South Korean director Park is known for his twisting, grimly comic thrillers. And Man-soo discovers his contentment is premature. Next morning he finds out that the company’s new US owners are shedding a fifth of the workforce, including him. The company motto was ‘no trade unions and a job for life’ – but there’s no other choice, the bosses say.
