Concrete Utopia Review: South Koreas Oscar Entry Delivers Class Satire And Genre Blockbuster Thrills
Just as Pulp Fiction sparked a wave of low-key gangster films and attracted immediate controversy, and Get Out paved the way for the more social horror film, the seeds of Parasite's wider influence began to grow. Of course, the disaster movie Concrete Utopia would still exist if not for the unprecedented international success of Bong Joon Ho's Oscar-winning film, but I doubt the producers would be willing to finance a similar satirical classic. only occurs worldwide). stressful situations) if you do not realize that a similar finding is possible.
Director Um Tae-hwa's third film follows in Bong's footsteps, and there's no need to criticize the country's first wave of love for thematic melodramas —which , like Parasite, were influenced by Kim Ki-yong's films. "The Handmaid" is a big show, a big budget modern show. It remains a brilliant mix of styles in the hands of different directors, offering more substance than the spectacular special effects that often occur in disaster films of this scale. But there are no surprises in "Concrete Utopia," even though Bong's films deviate from the narrative of the genre. .
No special effect in the film is more dramatic than the opening montage about the explosive growth of home ownership in Korea following the housing boom of the late 1980s. Seoul's urban landscape is dominated by modern high-end neighborhoods, and when the news montage ends, it's impossible to separate it from the beginning of the action: it takes a second to identify the earthquake on the horizon, slowly approaching. After the disaster, the residence building of the Imperial Palace remained the only building left in the city, the residents first surrounded themselves with homeless citizens in their houses, looking for food, water and shelter. Young couple Min Sun (Park Seo Joon) and Myung Hwa (Park Bo Young) do their best to help the mother take care of her young son, but her husband's initial rejection eventually ignites a wider sense of frustration felt by the other landlords. Who wants to start taking measures to protect outsiders who want privacy.
Dehumanization is about to begin. Young Ta (Lee Byung-hoon), a quiet resident, is chosen as the building's representative and gradually begins to use his power as best he can. You won't win any prizes for the not-so-subtle parallels to the rise of the Nazis, who start calling strangers "cockroaches" and evict anyone they suspect. The brilliant humor with which the leader's crooked ways gradually gain influence slightly diminishes the impact of the comedy; something more terrifying is usually the genocidal feelings a humble man develops at his first taste of power. The next step for someone with a background check is not logical. Concrete Utopia does a better job of showing how people we don't think of as evil end up becoming loyal followers of the regime, and mostly shows the incident from Min-sung's perspective. . Lunch with those in need.
Director and co-writers Li Xinji don't come off as simplistic and offensive, but make sure it never goes into the territory of internal conflict. He focuses on a warped moral compass, admits he's doing the right thing by protecting his family and ignores any criticism from his wife - a useful idiot, to say the least - and helps maintain this new normal. . Many authoritarian regimes arise from the desire of the upper classes to protect their property; The movie "Mother" is very interesting because it shows that millions of people can be easily radicalized due to selfishness, under the influence of negative climate effects in the near future. In this case, I fully understand why the film was nominated for the South Korean Academy Award for Best International Film, a broad but nuanced cultural commentary on global concerns about the rise of far-right movements.
This class satire is darker than any of Bong's work, even if it is superficially similar. The ice-breaking effect is essential throughout the plot (although it thankfully refrains from applying the same class structure to the inhabitants of the different levels of the complex, which I was wary of at first), the shockingly provocative ending has subtle echoes of " Parasite ". The climax of the film is how he explores the possibility of continuing where the accident happened. But while it's hard to avoid the superficial similarities between the concrete utopia and the director's best-known work, in the end the two feel very different. Of course, this is what we've come to expect from Bong's work with its complex moral twists. But the film fails to address the growing tyranny. It's more dramatic than the usual crowd-pulling disaster movies.
Concrete Utopia opens in limited theaters on December 8th and opens nationwide on December 15th.
