Concrete Utopia Takes The Disaster Movie In A Whole New Direction
The inhabitants of the concrete utopia.
Most modern disaster movies are pretty serious; it's a spectacular special effects extravaganza that serves as an excuse to show lots of destruction and action. The South Korean disaster film Concrete Utopia has some of this, but it's really more about what happens right after. First, the film focuses on a powerful earthquake that devastated Seoul. Everything is destroyed as far as the eye can see... except the apartment right in the middle.
This provision can then be developed in various ways. It could be The Raid. It could be a "13 percent attack". It could be Independence Day. but director Uhm Tae Hwa decides to make it completely real. Of course, there will be action and violence along the way, but the focus is on the human decisions made by the inhabitants of this building. Are they letting more people in? Who deserves to be there? And all this time, you can't help but think about how to act in this situation.
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Especially in Utopia, it has repeatedly occurred to me that we never see the government. We never see soldiers. There are no obvious heroes or villains here. It's just a part of life and a fact of this incomprehensible and devastating situation. Sure, there are people in this world trying to understand the bigger picture, but a certain utopia is a smaller picture. This is a challenge for us, not for anyone else.
The result is an intense and powerful film without sacrificing entertainment value. We consider our morals when characters subvert or reinforce their own, and ultimately, you want to spend more time in this world. This is pretty wild. In disaster movies, you usually want everyone to get back to normal. In concrete Utopia, you just want to see how things go.
Concrete Utopia premiered this week at Fantastic Fest 2023 and is in the running for Best International Film at the upcoming South Korean Academy Awards. It will go on sale in the US later this fall.
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