Concrete Utopia (2023)

Director: Tae-hwa Eom

Starring: Park Seo-joon, Lee Byung-hun, Park Bo-young

Survivors from a massive earthquake struggle for a new life in Seoul.

As long as you don’t expect the movie to be in the vein of ‘San Andreas’ or ‘The Quake’, you won’t be disappointed. The film takes a look at human nature, and the ability for humans to stand together following a disaster, or lack thereof.

Only one apartment building remain standing after a devastating earthquake destroys Korea. Now, the survivors are trying to survive, with people fighting over food, water and living space. To make matters worse, it is freezing. Residents of the apartment building complex decide to develop a system in order to survive and improve living conditions.

Kim-Young Tak (Lee Byung-hun) is selected as Delegate, to keep peace and order in their building, and to evict outsiders. Min-Sung (Park Seo-joon), a public servant, and his wife Myung-hwa (Park Bo-young), a nurse, are among the 219 survivors in the building. It was interesting to see how very different their opinions were about their situation.

In the face of disaster, there are always several challenges and obstacles, and it is so well illustrated in ‘Concrete Utopia’. There is also an interesting twist about one of the characters, which enhances the suspense. ‘Concrete Utopia’ is a thought-provoking film sure to divide viewer opinions as well.

‘Concrete Utopia’ won awards for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, and Best Director. Among others, it also received nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Music, and Best Production Design.

In Korean.

Would I watch it again? Maybe.