K-Film Review: “Concrete Utopia” is a must-watch disaster-thriller film!
The disaster-thriller film, Concrete Utopia, promises to give you an intense rollercoaster ride and will definitely keep you on the edge of your seats.
Concrete Utopia revolves around the catastrophic earthquake and the struggle of the survivors gathered in Hwang Gung apartment, the only building left standing in an earthquake-ravaged Seoul.
The Characters
Concrete Utopia has its superb casting!
Park Seo Jun and Park Bo Young play the roles of a married couple named, Min Sung and Myeong Hwa, respectively. Min Sung is a public servant while Myeong Hwa is a nurse. Bo Young and Seo Jun did a great job playing both their roles and as a couple, showing their strong bond as a family in times of difficulty.
Lee Byung Hun plays the role of Young Tak. The residents voted for him to become the provisional resident delegate; he played a pivotal role in leading the residents of Hwang Gung Apartment’s survival. Young Tak’s bravery in protecting their property is commendable but he hides dark secrets that will blow viewer’s minds! (You should watch the film and find it for yourself).
Moreover, Kim Sun Young, Park Ji Hu, and Kim Do Yoon portray the roles of Geum Ae, Hye Won, and Do Gyun, respectively. They also showed their outstanding performances to create perfect chemistry with other characters.
“Utopia” becomes “Dystopia”
Being the only building left standing in an earthquake-ravaged Seoul, Hwang Gung Apartment becomes the Utopia of the residents living there and the outsiders who survived the catastrophic earthquake. Everything turns upside down when the residents of Hwang Gung Apartment choose to chase away the outsiders calling them “cockroaches” causing conflict between the outsiders and the residents, knowing that leaving the apartment will cause them to freeze to death. Their Utopia turns to Dystopia when the fight for survival becomes the fight against one another to survive.
My Thoughts
“They are just an ordinary people”
-Myeong Hwa
What Myeong Hwa said in the last part of the film, “They are just ordinary people” really left a mark on me. It is just a simple phrase but very impactful. It implies that the residents are just ordinary people who make uncertain choices when they are in a serious situation. Generally, the residents represent us being humans who sometimes make wrong decisions in life. We pay a price for every decision we make, it always has consequences.
The film also points out the two natures of humans- the good and the bad. I kept thinking, what if the residents showed compassion to outsiders? Will there be a complete “Utopia” for everyone? Sometimes, a small gesture can have a big impact on someone.
This is a must-watch film mga bes!
Concrete Utopia is coming to Philippine cinemas on September 20. Sneak previews will be held on September 11 and 12.
Watch the trailer here:
Photos are courtesy of Columbia Pictures Philippines
