A devastating earthquake (volcano?) ravages Seoul, leaving only a single apartment building standing in the entire city (country?). Concrete Utopia (Konkeuriteu yutopia) explores the aftermath as the survivors create a new society, rules, and even ethics to maintain a standard of living–even if it means sacrificing their morals.
Concrete Utopia is a disaster movie that has little interest in the disaster itself. This is very clear in the opening moments of director Tae-hwa Eom’s film, in which the moment of impact is shown for only a fleeting second. With intention, or as a result of limited budget, it’s hard to say, but Concrete Utopia is most certainly a societal drama more than a physical survival film.
And that’s all good… except haven’t we seen such explorations time and time again? The themes at play, the questions posed (what are you willing to give up to protect yourself? Your loved ones? Your neighbors?), have been done and asked before.
When traditional societal rules are stripped away, who becomes the powerful? The weak? What divides the two? All compelling questions, but then again dystopian dramas and thrillers and action vehicles have all tinkered with these ideas for decades. You see it in “The Walking Dead,” you’ve read about it in “The Lord of the Flies,” and so on and so forth.
For what it’s worth, Concrete Utopia still has a lot going for it. Working from an $18 million budget, the movie looks great. The portrayal of sweeping destruction, while perhaps serving more as painted backdrops than interactive sets, look great. The cast, led by Park Seo-joon, Park Bo-young, and Lee Byung-hun, is strong and dynamic. The scenes in which the group ventures beyond the safety of their homes, and in turn reveal their true colors, are quietly powerful.
But Eom never quite finds the right footing. Concrete Utopia at times feels like its grasping for straws, seeking out what will resonate most. Eom should have played up the survival thriller elements further, heightening the stakes; instead, it appears he is disinterested in the physicality of it all. Sadly, this disinterest ironically does a disservice to the ideas he wants to explore.
Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.