Concrete Utopia - A Very Intense and Extraordinary Survival Drama Movie

I was not aware about this movie until I saw its trailer shown few times in the cinemas in the past few weeks. Unlike most South Korean movies, this was one of those rare film that was released in all major cinema chains in Indonesia. My wife and I decided to see it today in a cinema where we could see another film for our movie marathon day. All right then, I'll get to it.

Brief Story Line

When a major earthquake hit South Korea during the winter, most buildings collapsed and killed a lot of people.  However, one block apartment building somehow survived this catastrophe. Min-seong (Park Seo-joon - The Divine Fury, Itaewon Class etc), a civil servant and his wife Myeong-hwa (Park Bo-young - On Your Wedding Day, Strong Girl Bong-soon TV series etc) who was a nurse were part of the survivors living in this apartment. 

As the apartment residents tried their best to help other survivors, they soon realized they would be running out of food. The residents later appointed Kim Yung-tak (Lee Byung-hun - Emergency Declaration, Ashfall etc) to be their leader in the fight for survival.

So what would happen to the residents of Hwanggong apartment? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Although I did not know anything about the movie, I could feel from its trailer that this was going to be an intense film.  Plus my wife was convinced that it would be great since the lead cast were people known for their acting capability. Even I was familiar with the two lead actors whom I have seen few times before. And they really did not disappoint, especially Lee Byung-hun who was just amazing and his acting really made me and my wife in awe.

The early part of the movie was not really enjoyable for us because the screen was too dark and made us having difficulties in reading the subtitles. Luckily as it progressed, we both became more accustomed and could read them better. Though occassionally they were still too dark and we could not really see clearly what was going on (wish CGV would do something about their screen as this was not the first time we noticed in their studios).  But as a whole experience, it did not make us dislike the film. 

The story moved on a steady pace at first, but it did not take too long for us to feel the intensity of watching people who would do anything to survive. The dramatic moments were felt very strongly here. However, once we reached the middle, the movie's tone changed drastically by a twist that was clearly done to give a shock to the audience. Even though my wife and I already suspected them as we noticed the clues that were not so subtly shown, we still felt it to be a great part of the story. It made me change my view of the movie as it was certainly not an ordinary survival drama. I also think the story telling was quite greatly done by the director Um Tae-hwa (Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned etc). He managed to show the flash backs at the perfect time and brought the emotion out of us too.

In addition to the names I mentioned above, there were also support cast such as Kim Sun-young (The Silent Sea TV series, Three Sisters etc) as one of the residents' leader Geum-ae, Park Ji-hoo (All of Us Are Dead TV series, Blacklight etc) as another resident and few others. Btw, in the opening credit, it was said that the movie was based on part two of webtoon titled Pleasant Bullying by Kim Soongnyung. From what I read, the film was chosen for entry into 96th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Film category. That could only mean that the South Korean critics viewed the movie so highly that they chose this to represent them in such an event. 

Aside from the well told story, intriguing premise and wonderful performance from the cast, I think the musical score was pretty good too. They certainly added the dramatic and suspenseful feeling of the movie. Btw this one had a duration of 129 minutes including a quite long closing credits. My wife felt it to be emotionally draining and a bit tired after seeing it. Oh, in case you are wondering, despite the poster that seemed like it's action movie, this was definitely more like a drama about people trying to survive after major catastrophe. So if you are looking for a lot of action, then you will not find it here. But if an intense survival drama with a bit of twist is what you are looking for, then definitelly give it a try. My wife and I certainly enjoyed this one.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars