MaryMeKpop

Oh man oh man oh man. I have a lot to say about this one. The highly anticipated Korean movie ‘Concrete Utopia’ starring Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon, and Park Bo-young was finally released this past summer on August 9 after years of waiting and waiting. I for sure was excited for the movie when the news first came out about it and I never forgot about it even throughout the years of waiting. I made sure to occasionally look up any news or updates about it. Thankfully, the movie was finally released in August of this year and I finally had the time to sit down and watch it last night. It’s safe to say – I think the wait was worth it.

‘Concrete Utopia’ follows the story of a group of survivors after a huge earthquake causes massive destruction in Seoul. The survivors are residents of an apartment complex that is the only remaining standing building in the city. The group is led by Young-tak (Lee Byeong-hun) who is supported by fellow resident and public servant, Min-sung (Park Seo-joon). Park Bo-young portrays Min-sung’s wife, Myeong-hwa – a nurse who takes care of others in the building.

And as usual, this review contains spoilers so please read ahead at your own caution!

If I find the premise or main plot of a movie or drama interesting, I won’t be shy to admit that I’m a fan of it. But interestingly enough, ‘Concrete Utopia’ was one of those movies where I wasn’t as intrigued by the premise. Adapted from a webtoon, there’s a massive earthquake that causes destruction and damage in Seoul with the exception of one apartment complex that is the last building standing in the area? And now it’s up to the residents to “defend” their home from visitors and outsiders? What’s going to happen? How are they going to defend themselves? How is this movie 2 hours long? So I really didn’t have too many thoughts about it and wasn’t really sure what to expect. Heck, I even continued to have these thoughts as I watched the first half of the movie where the movie laid out the foundation. The movie started off by showing the massive earthquake and then the aftermath of what happened. Then we got a glimpse of the supporting characters – the residents of the apartment complex – and their plan in kicking out any outsiders who didn’t live in their building. Then once the outsiders were kicked out and removed, we saw the residents create a system where there were order, rules, and guidelines. There were task forces for all types of purposes and most residents played a role in maintaining this system. So after showing all of this in the first half of the movie, I just couldn’t help but wonder what the next hour was going to cover. Other than the massive destruction that the earthquake caused and with all the outsiders already being removed, what else was going to happen?

And then we reached the second half of the movie which definitely ramped up the intensity and suspense in ways that I definitely was not expecting. The first half placed such a huge emphasis on the removal of outsiders and this idea of a “utopia” within the apartment complex so the second half went in another direction and dove into the stories of our three leading characters. The first being Young-tak who turned out to be an outsider himself. He originally had plans to live in the building but he was scammed by the real Young-tak who was a resident in the apartment so fake Young-tak killed the real Young-tak in an act of rage and stole his identity in the end. And by the time Young-tak could escape or leave or even think about his next steps, the massive earthquake hit and he had nowhere else to go. When the movie uncovered this part of Young-tak’s story, it all made sense as to why he was so willing to be the leader of the group and why he was so adamant and determined to keep his position. He did his best to hide his identity and made it seem like he blended in. He made it seem as if he was one of them. The characterization of Young-tak was so compelling because the first half of the movie made it seem like he was an actual resident of the apartment complex who stepped up to be the leader and hero that the people needed. And then, little by little, you were shown pieces of his character that were uncomfortable and disturbing. He was a murderer who killed the real Young-tak and stuffed the dead body inside of a freezer. He threatened the next-door neighbor, Hye-won, so that she wouldn’t reveal the truth about his identity to anyone and then threw her into the pit of death once she did. He was actually an evil evil man who had no problem killing people or doing whatever he needed to do to get what he wanted and that was the scary part about him. He appeared to be that strong, powerful, and determined leader who kept things together but he was the reason that everything fell apart and broke in the end. 

Then there was Min-sung who was Young-tak’s right-hand man/assistant/second in command. I initially thought he was going to play this type of role for the majority of the movie but then we saw that his character was a little different. Unlike what we saw of Young-tak and Myeong-hwa in the first half, things weren’t as black and white with Min-sung. He had this expectation for him to perform and help Young-tak to keep things going and running. Young-tak relied on him for his support and assistance. But at the same time, his wife was stressed out about the system that the apartment complex was building and was bothered by his actions and behaviors. She didn’t like what he was doing and she didn’t want him to be as active and to help out. So he was sort of torn the entire time and was conflicted as to what to do. Should he listen to his mind that was telling him to follow Young-tak and the system that was created to maintain order in the apartment complex? Or should he listen to his heart and listen to his wife who represented the more humane and emotional aspect in all of this? There were times where you saw Min-sung’s conflicting thoughts and emotions. Purposely avoiding the eyes of the young boy outsider who lived with him and Myeong-hwa for a few days. Not really knowing if following Young-tak was the right decision or not. Feeling conflicted when Myeong-hwa didn’t want him to maintain the active role that he was playing in all of it. Min-sung was always in this constant state of conflict as he balanced his emotions with his mind and hovered in this gray area of trying to keep his relationship with both Young-tak/the residents and Myeong-hwa intact. It wasn’t until later on in the movie where both his life as well as Myeong-hwa’s life was threatened and endangered that he was forced to choose a side.

And then there was Myeong-hwa. I was afraid that Myeong-hwa’s role in the movie was going to be the most limited one where she played the kind, caring, and nice nurse who wanted to maintain peace with the outsiders and take them in to care for them. I wanted to see more out of the character in the movie. And then when things unfolded in the second half and she was the catalyst into Young-tak’s identity reveal, I couldn’t help but just squeal out of excitement. So there was indeed more in plan for her character after all and that was the exciting part. She listened to Hye-won and teamed up with the young girl to investigate Young-tak’s apartment unit. She knew that there was something that he was hiding based on Hye-won’s comments and that was how they discovered the body of the real Young-tak. There was this sequence in the movie where Young-tak and Min-sung are out with a group of the residents doing their usual search for food and water. While they were out, Hye-won and Myeong-hwa took the chance to sneak into Young-tak’s apartment to do some digging. And this sequence of showing both groups on a search for two completely different reasons was just so so good but also intense and frightening at the same time. In the end, Min-sung discovered a room full of food and resources that would last the apartment complex for a while. At the same time, Myeong-hwa discovered the dead body of the real Young-tak hidden in a freezer in the apartment unit and the movie showed this sequence simultaneously which gave me goosebumps and chills. Min-sung’s discovery would perpetuate the system that Young-tak created and upheld while Myeong-hwa’s discovery was eventually the reason that led to the downfall of both Young-tak and the system.

There were a few other things that the movie implemented that were engaging and cool and gave us more insight into the characters. We saw it in particular with Young-tak and Min-sung where we were shown where they were right when the massive earthquake hit. Min-sung was busy trying to help a woman who was stuck under a truck when the earthquake hit and he ultimately had to leave her behind to seek shelter inside of a car in the heat of the moment. Then there was Young-tak who killed the real Young-tak inside of his apartment unit and received a hurtful phone call from his wife just seconds right before the earthquake hit. Young-tak’s story is so interesting because he was evil and disturbing but these flashbacks into his past also gave us a glimpse into his broken relationship with his family due to his debt as well as the scam that the real Young-tak pulled on him. Similar to Min-sung, it wasn’t all just black and white for Young-tak either and I was fascinated by how complicated and complex of a character he was. 

The other thing that I was relieved about with this movie was how the story unfolded. With an earthquake, it’s a little bit easier to go along with the story and the plot given that earthquakes are a natural disaster and they do cause destruction and damage. Following the webtoon, the movie focused less on the actual earthquake and more so on the aftermath with the characters and the apartment complex. The movie needed to find a way to get its viewers to be sold on the story and I personally was able to go along with the story knowing that it was an earthquake and not a comet or something else external that caused the destruction and damage that we saw in the aftermath. It all made sense.

As much as I raved about the characters and other aspects of the movie that I enjoyed (plus the cinematography which was stunning at times), there were a few things that I just couldn’t bring myself to really care about. In the final act of the movie, the residents of the apartment complex ended up defending their building from a group of outsiders/rivals/competitors again which was the war that ultimately led to Young-tak’s (and Min-sung’s) death. The movie showed glimpses of this group here and there throughout the movie and at one point, we saw Young-tak and Min-sung’s group get ambushed by them. But this was my least favorite aspect about the movie because 1) the movie didn’t completely focus on it until the final act of the movie and 2) by then, the movie had done such a wonderful job on focusing on our characters as well as their stories that I just didn’t really care about this outside group. I was more interested about the plot twist with Young-tak, about Myeong-hwa and Hye-won’s teamwork, about Min-sung’s internal struggle, and about the residents of the apartment complex struggling to keep things in order and afloat that by the time this external group rolled around, I just didn’t really care anymore. They felt like an afterthought and it seemed that way as well when the movie ended things with their sudden appearance in the final act. There was a point in the movie where one of the residents was killed by this outside group which seemed interesting for a bit but then this subplot stalled and the movie went on to focus on other things. So by the time that the movie came back around to it, I just didn’t have it in me to really care anymore. I get why it was a thing in the movie as well as the point and message that it was trying to bring across to viewers but there were already so many things going on internally with the characters that I wished there was a way to better incorporate this external factor into everything.

As for the ending, I would have loved to see Min-sung survive and live with Myeong-hwa. But at the same time, I understand why the movie killed his character. Given that Min-sung played an active role in perpetuating the system within their apartment complex where outsiders were removed and he supported the rest of the residents by searching for food and water, it made sense that he didn’t live to experience ultimately what was a utopia where everyone could live harmoniously. It made sense that it was Myeong-hwa – the one who attempted to keep things together with the outsiders and wanted to build that utopia – who survived and will get to experience this for herself. When she was rescued at the end by members of this group, she couldn’t believe that she was simply allowed to just live. Up until that point, all she had known and witnessed was competition and war and losses and deaths that she couldn’t believe such a thing where peace and harmony could exist. She was rescued into a community where people weren’t trying to kill each other or to kick people out or to cause harm to one another. This was the type of world that she had envisioned and wanted to build. This was the type of world that her apartment complex should have and could have built. It’s unfortunate that Myeong-hwa only got to experience this after all the damage had already been done.

All in all, ‘Concrete Utopia’ was a movie that had many layers to it and it took the full 2 hours to reveal those intricate and complicated layers. Within the first half of the movie, I was afraid that our three lead characters were going to be one-dimensional. And then we saw the layers unravel and unfold and we witnessed how much more complex everything was. While it took a little longer to get things going, I loved that the movie had so much more up its sleeve than expected. Just like the characters, the movie itself was multifaceted and multi-dimensional and there was a lot more that went on than you thought. There were a few things that I wished the movie excluded or tweaked a bit or played around with but essentially, ‘Concrete Utopia’ was a fun watch. It made me laugh with its few comedic scenes. It also made me cry with the ending. It also broke my heart at all the possibilities and the thought of what could have been. In the end, the actions and decisions of the residents in the apartment complex was ultimately what led them to their deaths. They thought that what they did would have saved and protected them but it only hurt them instead. In the end, there was a concrete utopia that existed – one that was built on the foundation of sincere love and kindness.