Underplayed Gems

Concrete Utopia (2023)

Concrete Utopia poster
Original title
콘크리트 유토피아
Directed by
Um Tae-hwa
Genre
disaster film, thriller film
Country
South Korea
Runtime
2h 10m
Rated
NR
Rating
6.9 of 10 from 306 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A huge earthquake levels Seoul and leaves only one apartment building standing. The survivors inside must band together but soon face hard choices about who gets to stay and who gets left out.

tensebleakclaustrophobicsuspensefulmorally complexgrittysurvivalistslow-burn

What happens

Concrete Utopia (Korean: 콘크리트 유토피아) is a 2023 South Korean disaster-thriller film directed by Um Tae-hwa, who wrote the screenplay with Lee Shin-ji, based on the second part of the webtoon Pleasant Outcast by Kim Soongnyung. It stars Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon, Park Bo-young, Kim Sun-young, Park Ji-hu, and Kim Do-yoon. Concrete Utopia is set in Seoul shortly after a titanic earthquake destroys the city, and follows the residents of a building that miraculously remained intact. As they try to survive, they are faced with harsh realities and difficult moral decisions. The film was theatrically released on August 9, 2023. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was selected as the South Korean entry for the Best International Feature Film category for the 96th Academy Awards. However, it did not make it to the shortlist. A standalone sequel titled Badland Hunters, following a different set of characters evolving in post-earthquake Seoul, was released in January 2024, with producer Byun Seung-min as the only returning key crew member. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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