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Dec 15, 2023 · Concrete Utopia: Directed by Tae-hwa Eom. With Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon, Park Bo-young, Kim Sun-young. Survivors from a massive earthquake struggle for a new life in Seoul.
- (6.5K)
- Action, Adventure, Drama
- Tae-hwa Eom
- 2023-12-15
Dec 7, 2023 · Based on Kim Soongnyung’s webtoon Pleasant Outcast, Concrete Utopia (in theaters Dec. 8) provides no initial explanation for its calamitous earthquake, which in a prefacing aerial shot begets...
- Nick Schager
- Entertainment Critic
Concrete Utopia (Korean: 콘크리트 유토피아) is a 2023 South Korean disaster-thriller film directed by Um Tae-hwa, who wrote the screenplay with Lee Shin-ji, based on the second part of the webtoon Pleasant Outcast by Kim Soongnyung.
Dec 6, 2023 · 2023's Most Grueling Apocalypse Movie is the Best Disaster Thriller of the Decade. Review. Concrete Utopia Proves Disaster Thrillers Can Still Be Soulful. South Korea’s Oscars selection...
- A polished disaster drama with a bleak and brutal view of human nature
- Concrete Utopia Gallery
- What's your favorite disaster movie?
- Verdict
By Katie Rife
Updated: Dec 8, 2023 8:21 pm
Posted: Dec 8, 2023 8:08 pm
Set in the last remaining apartment block in Seoul after an apocalyptic earthquake ravages the city, South Korea’s official Oscar entry for 2023 uses a single high-rise building – the “concrete utopia” of the title – as a stand-in for nothing less than all of human society. In director and co-writer Um Tae-hwa’s cynical view, people are selfish, violent creatures that are prone to cruelty when we feel even the slightest bit threatened. Put another way: Concrete Utopia is Lord of the Flies with a view.
In snappy, quick-cutting vignettes that map out the system that keeps the Imperial Palace running – if not necessarily a sense of geography in this claustrophobic space – Concrete Utopia builds a functional, immersive world. Every day, Yeong-tak and his men venture out into the rubble of the city searching for food and fuel, which is rationed out and distributed by a committee. Similar groups handle medicine, waste disposal, and even recreation for residents – and only residents. Outside the walls lie piles of frozen corpses, but the people living in the Imperial Palace have convinced themselves that they’ve been “chosen” to survive.
At its best, Concrete Utopia prompts the viewer to ask themselves what they’d do if they were given choices like the ones the characters must make. Some of its observations have a touch of black humor to them: One scene sees a gaggle of well-fed aunties chiding a starving refugee for her tone. At its worst, it’s just obvious, like the shot of a “Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself” sign on the wall of an apartment whose residents are being beaten for harboring “outsiders.”
Concrete Utopia is a disaster movie about human nature. Set in the last apartment block standing in Seoul after a devastating earthquake, this polished, character-driven drama is a whole lot of movie, in both good and bad ways.
- Katie Rife
Jul 24, 2023 · The world has been reduced to rubble by a massive earthquake.While no one knows for sure how far the ruins stretch, or what the cause of the earthquake may b...
- 2 min
- 407.9K
- Lotte Entertainment (International)
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Dec 8, 2023 · Concrete Utopia uses its post-apocalyptic framework to pose questions regarding the drive for survival, intelligently probing darker corners of human nature along the way. Read Critics Reviews...
- (61)
- Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Mystery & Thriller
