‘Concrete Utopia’ Review: Disaster Strikes Seoul in Director Um Tae-Hwa’s Sweeping Moral Saga
Courtesy of 815 Pictures.
From Titanic to Twister, audiences have long been drawn to the disaster film genre, representations of human struggle in the face of catastrophe. Less than four years on from the COVID-19 pandemic –– which linked humans around the globe through crisis –– disaster films prove to be a flavor movie-goers are not yet exhausted by, as demonstrated through the success of Concrete Utopia, the latest movie from South Korean filmmaker Um Tae-hwa. Set in Seoul following a gigantic earthquake that has leveled the city apart from one apartment complex, Concrete Utopia works within the standard boundaries of a disaster film to deliver an epic and entertaining film that stirs vital questions concerning moral responsibility to one’s community.
Concrete Utopia opens with documentary footage of Seoul through the post-war decades, a rapidly expanding city opening its arms to Western Capitalism. Fast forward to the present, when a Richter scale-breaking earthquake annihilates the metropolis, save for a singular apartment complex. Lucky for the Hwang Gung Apartments residents, their middle-class high-rise home has been miraculously spared from ruin. In the building, unit 602 belongs to a young couple, Min-seong (Park Seo-joon) and Myeong-hwa (Park Bo-young), who have survived the collapse of the city but hold different standpoints on the protection of their resources, especially when other survivors flock to the complex in seek of shelter. Pursuing guidance in rebuilding some semblance of normalcy, tenants of the apartments decide to kick out all outsiders and elect a "resident delegate," Yeong-tak (Lee Byung-hun, best known to Western audiences for his role in the Netflix hit Squid Game). As the apartment's tenants work to reconstruct their new lives within the confines of their complex, the paradise they attempt to create is challenged by greed, control, and corruption that quickly threaten to destroy everything.
Courtesy of 815 Pictures.
Based on the webtoon series Cheerful Outcast, Concrete Utopia reflects director Um's detailed interests in the class dynamics dictated by a Capitalist world, much like the films of fellow South Korean Bong Joon-ho. At one point early in the movie, one of the apartment's residents says, "There's no high or low. Everything has been reset." This idealistic concept is quashed by the resident delegate's authoritarian rule, which quickly evolves into a social hierarchy that favors those who are willing to follow their leader without question. Even in a city ruined by disaster, consumerism becomes a consequential element in the lives of the apartment tenants as their expeditions to find food and supplies evolve from essential to voracious and unstoppable.
Along with its commentary on Capitalism, the film explores the ethical dilemmas of its characters with a comprehensive portrayal of the entire spectrum, from pure-heartedness to corruption. Although the film's narrative may overlook digging into their relationship dynamics, the characters Min-seong and Myeong-hwa serve as intriguing moral figures with views representative of the differing sentiments of their neighbors. Min-seong is much more interested in shielding their resources and their community from the outside world. Myeong-hwa is a much more sympathetic and thoughtful character who does not understand why they cannot share their comforts with those displaced by the earthquake, who are freezing in the streets where they stand outside the gates of the Hwang Gung complex. Min-seong proves to be much more in awe of their new despotic leader Yeong-tak, while his wife remains rightly skeptical of his cruelty and intimidation tactics. By Concrete Utopia's halfway point, the apartment tenants are referring to those on the outside as "cockroaches," dehumanizing their former neighbors and community members with a reprobate detachment that is frightening.
Beyond its contemporary thematic elements that instill a certain dark humor into the film, Concrete Utopia works successfully as an impressive and entertaining disaster movie as well. Although the Seoul-destroying earthquake is shown briefly at the beginning of the movie and then once more in a flashback, its scale and force are distinctly expressed to the audience, showing buildings and cars splintering like cheap furniture as the catastrophe moves through the city, moments of the earthquake are almost reminiscent of the brilliant CGI work in Christopher Nolan's Inception. Speaking of CGI, Concrete Utopia's VFX team could teach a thing or two (or three) to many recent Hollywood productions because the recreation of a destroyed Seoul, mainly through the use of visual effects, is jaw-droppingly impressive. In contrast to the sweeping shots of the city's wreckage, the happenings of the apartment complex and its inhabitants are portrayed with claustrophobia and a cold greyness reflective of the bleak situation at hand.
In an age when most disaster films turn out to be blockbuster fodder, Concrete Utopia brilliantly stands out as a movie that works within the genre with an elevated sensibility and intellect that marks it head and shoulders above the rest. Balancing familiar elements with a clever screenplay, Concrete Utopia has the power to draw in a wide variety of movie lovers, as already proven by its spot among the top 10 of the South Korean box office for 2023. After making its world debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, Concrete Utopia was submitted as South Korea's entry for Best International Feature at the upcoming 96th Academy Awards, the film will find itself duking it out with heavy hitters including The Zone of Interest, Perfect Days, and The Taste of Things for a final spot in the nominations. Concrete Utopia will make its North American theatrical debut on Friday, December 8, in New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto before expanding to other cities in the following weeks. Click here to find a Concrete Utopia Screening near you.