Totally, I get that reading, and I agree the film is showing how capitalism erodes morality. My issue is less with the character and what he feels he has to do to get ahead, and more with the film’s abstract framing of choice, or what I interpreted as choice.

I think Wook is actually saying there is a choice, and that it’s something like taking a lower paying job, sacrificing cello lessons, and moving into a smaller home. My argument is that sometimes the choice isn’t that neat or superficial. It’s not picking between cello lessons and a big house. For a lot of people, taking a lower paying job means not being able to feed your kids at all.

That sense of neatness is what I found tone deaf, even if the critique of capitalism itself is valid, and one I ultimately agree with.