No Other Choice Is a Dark Satire of Capitalism and Masculinity |
Movies
Peter Suderman | 1.9.2026 10:20 AM
There's not much in the way of subtlety when it comes to the big themes of Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice. It's a movie about the soulless, zero-sum misery of late capitalism—a sharp, bleak, brutal, and surprisingly funny retort to the idea that corporate power leaves anyone with anything resembling real choice. I'm a libertarian who works for Reason. I have a generally sunny disposition towards both capitalism and corporations, which aren't perfect but have, on the whole, made societies richer and individual life more enjoyable. And yet I rather enjoyed this movie, not because I agreed with its critique of markets, but because it's the sort of ambitious, personal, high-wire film that can only be made in a world where real choice exists. And beyond the surface critique of corporate inhumanity, there's a deeper character study of modern masculinity to be found.Â
The setup mixes dark comedy with thriller noir in the way of the Coen brothers or A Simple Plan-era Sam Raimi. Yoo Man-su, a middle-aged man with a beautiful family and a comfy dream home,........