Review of ‘Concrete Utopia’: The society of a building
Review of ‘Concrete Utopia’: The society of a building. Review of ‘ ‘Concrete Utopia”, directed by Um Tae-Hwa, written by Um and Lee Shin ji. Starring Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon and Park Bo-young. Selected by South Korea for the 96th Oscar Awards.
By Staff
The South Korean audiovisual industry is experiencing a time of important international visibility.
The resounding success of ‘Parasites‘ in the cinema (with the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Oscar for best film) and the brutal international reception of ‘The Squid Game‘ have only made its fame, recognition and prestige reach the public. massive.
Hence, proposals as attractive as ‘Concrete Utopia’ arrive. Um Tae-hwa‘s fourth feature film (the first to achieve distribution in Spain), it was chosen to represent the Asian country in the best international film category at the 96th edition of the Oscars.
Inspired by the second part of the comic ‘Pleasant Outcast’ by Kim Sungnyung, ‘Concrete Utopia’ ‘ brings together the most characteristic elements of disaster cinema, action and, above all, dystopian science fiction.
A brutal earthquake leaves Seoul in ruins. Only the Imperial Palace apartments remain standing.
Feeling lucky, the community of neighbors will establish a dictatorial regime in the building, converted into an oasis in the midst of chaos. Obviously, such a premise is designed to show the cruelest and most ruthless side of Humanity.
Obviously, multiple comparisons and metaphors can be made between this dystopian story and what Humanity is currently experiencing.
Lee Byung-hun, known precisely for ‘The Squid Game‘, plays Yeong-tak, from apartment 902, who takes the leadership of the neighborhood community and has no qualms about expelling all those survivors of the catastrophe who are not residents.
In the midst of horror, hunger, disease and a multitude of needs, the apartment block becomes fortified.
A powerful commercial proposal
Since the parable is so obvious, Um chooses to create an authentic multi-clue game. On the one hand, it seeks to be a disaster film, a survival film, a combination between Michael Bay‘s cinema and Stephen King‘s ‘The Fog‘.
This is seen from the beginning, when Um makes a real display of technical and visual level, which once again demonstrates that huge budgets are not necessary to create magnificent productions with powerful visual effects.
On the other hand, it is also an acid satire that could very well have Bong Joon-ho behind it.
Added to this is that Um seeks to give depth to its characters, narrating their stories, their backgrounds and resorting to the helpful flashbacks.
That, of course, allows the public to connect with this community of neighbors, especially when the society that is set up in this building begins to show its flaws, its breaks, how disloyalty, intrigues, and betrayals begin to form.
Um, who was Park Chan-wook‘s assistant director, shows exquisite handling of different types of genres, creating a powerful proposal that works as a multi-ring circus.
And that is where mastery is seen, in knowing how to carry out a proposal that does not hesitate to take the multiple references it has to its own terrain.
‘Concrete Utopia’ demonstrates the ability of South Korean cinema to create powerful proposals with a strong commercial vision that are capable of going further, being parables about the bloodiest side of the human psyche itself.
All of this at a dizzying pace, in which he has great control of the times. A brutal science fiction and dystopian proposal that already aspires to rub shoulders with acclaimed titles such as ‘Snowpiercer‘ or ‘The Host‘.
