[Movie] Concrete Utopia, 콘크리트 유토피아 - Lee Byung Hun, Park Seo Joon, Park Bo Young

[Ephoenix]

October 5, 2023 

CONGRATULATIONS, TEAM CONCRETE UTOPIA!!!

 

 

Concrete Utopia achieved 4 wins at the 2023 Buil Film Awards that was held on October 5, at Busan. 

• Best Picture 
• Best Actor - Lee Byung Hun 
• Best Cinematograpy - Cho Hyung-Rae 
• Female star of the year award - Park Bo-young 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CyA1RPyLGn4/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

 

Buil Film Awards Jury review for the awardees: 

 

Best Picture:

The Best Picture Award was decided without disagreement on director Um Tae-hwa’s ‘Concrete Utopia.’ ‘Concrete Utopia’, which won Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Female Star of the Year, is the only film to win four awards at this year’s Buil Film Awards. The film, which exposes human nature in a disaster situation against the backdrop of an apartment where the desire to rise in class is concentrated, is a Korean disaster film with plenty to think about, and a well-made commercial film that is both fun and meaningful. It is a masterpiece that highlights both the production company's planning ability and the director's directing ability, and the high-quality production including filming, art, makeup, and VFX also raised the level of completeness of the entire film.

 

Best Actor Lee Byung Hun 

The winner of the Best Actor Award was Lee Byung-hun, who showed yet another monster-like performance in ‘Concrete Utopia.’ The character he plays, Young Tak, is a desperate man with a blind goal of protecting his home (apartment). Lee Byung-hun plays this unusual character in a rugged yet delicate, hot and cold manner. It's surprising that such raw energy can be felt from a veteran of veterans with over 30 years of acting experience.

 

Best Cinematography Cho Hyung Rae

Cinematographer Cho Hyeong-rae’s filming, which cast a deep pathos on the gray faces of the actors and refined the light and frame of the film to transform an unrealistic space into a realistic one, also left a deep impression in ‘Concrete Utopia’.

 

Source: here 

[Ephoenix]

October 7, 2023 

 

INTERVIEW: Telling A Generational Story in Concrete Utopia With Director Um Tae-hwa

 

Concrete Utopia is a disaster movie based on a webtoon that director Um Tae-hwa has used to tell a generational story about class, real estate, and the moral complexities of survival. Having its United States debut at Fantastic Fest, we got the chance to talk with Um Tae-hwa about the film, adapting WEBTOONS, and the lasting message he hopes audiences will take away from Concrete Utopia. 
 

Q: There are a lot of webtoon adaptations in film and TV right now. As a director who has done his own adaptation, what do you think it is about the webtoon medium that makes them such good stories to adapt?

 

UM TAE-HWA: I think overall, there’s probably an exhaustion of material in all mediums but also for webtoons. I guess there are very few limitations to your imagination when it comes to webtoons and when you dramatize [them]. So there are various stories and I think that’s why the dramas or the movies are probably excited to work with these storylines.

 

Q: And what drew you to Pleasant Bullying as a story, and why did you choose the angle you did with Concrete Utopia, which focuses on a very specific part of the story?

 

UM TAE-HWA: I’ve always liked the disaster genre and that’s why I really enjoyed reading the original work. But also getting to use the apartment as a background, which is a very unique context in Korean society. I myself was born and grew up in an apartment, and there’s probably more than 50% of Koreans actually live in apartments. It’s the residence type that a lot of Korean people actually live in which makes it very easy for Koreans to identify or be immersed in [the story]. Historically, culturally, socially, and politically, [the apatment] is an intense representation of Korean society in that way.

 

In addition to the explanation I just gave you, after the Korean War, there were a lot of economic developments in Korea. At first, the government was led to build these apartments as the preferred residential type. But now it has turned into “brand apartments” that are invisibly dividing Korean people into social classes. And it’s causing the social problem that’s unseen…It’s sort of creating this social problem that is unseen. So instead of adding social value as a residential place, it’s sort of flipping the main reason for apartments. I wanted to [show] those social aspects in this film as well.

 

Q: One of the things I love about Concrete Utopia is how detailed every scene is. It feels like if you go a different direction than the characters, you’ll be able to find a whole new element of the world of story. How did you balance these detailed environments with the characters in the story?

 

UM TAE-HWA: I didn’t really think about [the world and characters] separately. But with the original work being the webtoon, instead of bringing that sort of the comic tone into the film, I was focusing on the fact that what if this disaster actually happened in Korea tonight then what would actually happen because of the disaster? I focused on the reality of what could happen for the tone of the film.

 

For this realistic tone, the very Korean-realistic tone, would bring out a lot of black comedy elements to the film as the satirical tone throughout the film. For example, in the party scene where the people are singing and dancing, I thought maybe in real life even if that actually happens Korean people will dance and sing and have a party. That’s what I thought maybe [this scene] is so detailed and realistic that maybe the Korean audience when they watch this will have to just laugh because it’s so realistic. That is the type of tone and realism that I was trying to have as a base

 

There are a lot of a lot of things that I did to put a lot of details into this film. Not only the main the leading characters, the extras, and other minor characters, I gave them very, very detailed backgrounds. I told them what unit they lived what career they had before the disaster, their family relationships, or who had survived a disaster, and things like that. I gave [the actors] a history of each and every character and then just let them sort of move within the setting that I gave them.

 

Visually, for the CGI as well,  I tried to recreate almost identical imagery in the film of places that actually exist in Korea, and then we tried to destroy it. We are even the signs we are using on the ground are real so we could put as much detail as possible. I took a lot of pictures and I actually scouted a lot of locations myself, so that the audience can actually guess where they are when they’re looking at these images. That’s the type of effort that I put into this film.

 

Q: Lee Byung-hun who plays Young-tak and Park Seo-joonwho plays Min-sung, are really well known for their acting, being leading men. In the film, I noticed that visually, they both change. It’s a small detail, but Young-tak moves from looking disheveled to looking so alive and more like the leading man we see Lee Byung-hun usually play. For Min-sung, by the end his lips have no color, his face is injured, and he just looks broken. Why did you choose to parallel these two characters that way?  

 

UM TAE-HWA: So I’m not sure if that actually answers the questions. But I thought [Concrete Utopia] was also sort of a generational story as well as a disaster or class one. In Korea during an economic bubble period, there were a lot of apartments being built, and a lot of development was happening where the generation before us lived. They very much believe that the male has to be the head of the household and think “I raised my family” and “I’m responsible for my family.” And these are the generations that work hard because they lived in that period. Then in the story, the previous generation is sort of represented by the character Young-Tak, and the next generation is represented by Min-sung, and it sort of creates sort of a father-son relationship.

 

The previous generation has a different mentality than Min-sung, who represents our current generation. When he’s forced to accept the values from the previous generation, he is confused and conflicted with his own thoughts. I wanted a he’s sort of a character to represent that idea of [generational tension].

 

Young-yak’s main thing is to think about survival as the central value and his life, and Myung-hwa, [Min-sung’s wife], on the other hand, thinks that survival is important but also human dignity is the most important thing that you carry on. So this means Min-sung is in between those values that he’s he’s a character who’s expressing that confusion, but between the two values

 

Q: What do you want people to think about once the film’s credits roll?

 

UM TAE-HWA: To continue what I mentioned before, I thought that you can’t really decide what’s more important between human dignity and survival. But I want it to move to ask the audience that question. During the resident meeting, when people were talking about evicting all of the outsiders, Myung-hwa suggested: How about we think about how to survive together with these people?

source: here 

[Ephoenix]

October 12, 2023

 

[Sitges2023] Director Uhm Tae-hwa and Climax Studios CEO Byun Seung-min at the 2023 Sitges Film Festival in Barcelona, where Concrete Utopia is invited to compete in Òrbita section of the festival. 

 

 

So far, the reviews I've read on twitter have been bit of mixed. While it seems that everyone enjoyed the acting and production quality of the movie, the common dislike among the audience seems to be the lengthy duration of the movie as majority stated it sort of kill the excitement and the flow of the movie. 

[Ephoenix]

October 16, 2023 

 

Concrete Utopia Analysis: 

 

This is going to be a pretty long read because I am somewhat incapable of summarizing the facts but I must tell you that you won’t regret it. There might be inaccuracies in my interpretations but Its wonderful how this movie makes people think so much lol. And I cant help but continuously be amazed how much thought the director has put into perfecting this movie.

 

1. Main Character Mo Se-Beom (Moses+Beom): It has been often talked about how this name is reminiscent of Moses, who is revered as the greatest prophet and teacher in Christianity which we will further talk about superficially in Bible references, but something I feel like many missed was how the director cleverly added another equally contradicting word in the name which is just as significant to describe this character. It is ‘Beom’, which could also mean ‘crime’ alone in Korean, but the way it is used here as if like a —suffix completely criminalizes the first word.

 

 A God’s prophet—a criminal. It was so cleverly done and throughout the movie, we often witness this conflicting nature in the character after being chosen. A courageous, realistic and a devoted leader who created a proper system out of chaos, who has also committed a murder. As a person himself, he was constantly having a battle with it both outside and within himself as it simultaneously started progressing on his actions and expressions. LBH did such a marvelous job portraying this layered character of a tormented man walking on those thin grey lines, who also lost all his sense and reasons being intoxicated by the immense power, and created such a riveting and multi-faceted character. 

 

2. Power Dynamics: Imperial Palace Apartment is the only vertically standing apartment after the earthquake. In that sense, we can directly connect how the higher apartment numbers of our main characters are also representative of their power status within the group.

o   Kim Geum-ae of #1207 (Head of Women’s Association): It is clearly evident that she is the one who instigated this whole reign of terror in the first place, and had the most authoritative power above all, especially in the beginning. A master manipulator. 

o   Kim Young-tak of #902 (Resident Representative): ‘The Chosen one’ to put it simply—by the manipulative power of Geum-ae herself to take the lead. She had her eyes set on him as her ‘pawn’, who she thought had a strong sense of self-sacrifice and someone who can take all the blame and responsibilities. 

o   Moon Hye-won of #903: She didn’t hold much power like Young-tak but she is still in equal position with even a slight higher number because she held his biggest secret that could bring his entire Kingdom to doom. 

o   Do-kyun of #809 (Furniture Designer): Even though Do-kyun committed suicide as a result of the violence and humiliation he was subjected to by Young-tak, he is the one who dared to resist the cruel system with his good deeds and kept his belief in the humanity until his death. And it is one of the significant reason he was above Min-sung but was less powerful than Young-tak. 

o   Kim Min-sung and Myeong-Hwa of #602: Since Min-sung was the right hand man of Young-tak, and head of crime prevention team, he was under the direct order of Young-tak. Myung-hwa however, despite her beliefs, didn’t go against the system and always followed her husband. 

 

3. Characters’ Profession and behavior according to their Ethics: 

o   Mo Se-beom — Taxi Driver: Once the destination is decided by the passenger, their job is simply to take the initiative and drive to the destination. Here, Geum-ae and the residents set the destination, and MSB took the lead and the responsibility to fulfill his duties without having any say in it. 

o   Kim Min-sung — A Civil servant: As a public servant, you are required to obey your superiors and handle the work given to you, as well as manage your subordinates well. So, even if it is an act of aiding a murder, he performed it because it was required of him in that given situation regardless of it being against his own beliefs. However, as soon as he realized he is not the legitimate superior, he immediately turned against him and threatened him. 

o   Myeong-Hwa — A Nurse: As a medical professional, it’s their job to treat and save people regardless of their nature and status, and it should be their foremost priority. That’s why it is obvious that she showed a strong opinion to save and care for people even if they were outsiders. Even though, it went against the propaganda at that time, she remained and maintained her firm stand on her beliefs. 

 

4. Biblical references: I will only go briefly since this isn’t the topic I am confident at and these analysis were mostly collected from fans’ interpretation and reviews.

 

 

o   Moses: A prominent figure who was a leader, liberator, intercessor, lawgiver and prophet. Our main character Mo Se-beom is heavily inspired from him.

o   Moses’ 10 commandments: The set of rules for residents they set outside the apartment board was also reminiscent of the 10 commandments established by Moses in the Bible. 

o   Declaration of being chosen: Kim young-tak referring to the apartment being chosen and how the residents going around referring each other as chosen ones are similar to the ideology that they are chosen by God. 

o   Moses’ staff or his walking stick: Mo Se-beom always carried that walking stick he got from real Kim young-tak’s house, which was like a symbol of his power, his crime and also a weapon, just like how Moses also had his staff that he always carried around. And Kim Young-tak losing his stick during the attack by outsiders also symbolized his loss of power. 

o   Pillar of Fire and Cloud: In Bible, pillar of fire and cloud were considered manifestation of God, which said to have illuminated and guided his followers through the desert. Here in the movie, it guided Young-tak and his crime prevention team to conduct search during the night and eventually find that convenience store.

o   Discovery of water in dried land: The scene where the stream of water appeared after the rock burst open was like that of how Moses struck his staff into the rock and provided water for his followers. Just like in the Bible and in the movie, it signified how God still provides and nurtures, even when you disobey him. It also means that a sin has far more deadly consequences than we may foresee. 

o   Painting red on the door: This act of painting the door red was also references to the commands of Moses, where the ones who had their doors painted with sheep’s blood escaped God’s punishment. However, contrary to the Bible, in the world of Concrete Utopia, it was used as a symbol of punishment. This clear contradiction itself is one of the many anecdotes used in the movie to show how Imperial Palace Apartment is anything but an Utopia. 

 

There’s more on the biblical references from the ending of the movie, but that also depended on how you interpreted the ending. The one shown in the movie, goes with the interpretation of Noah’s Ark. However, I also don’t think it is what it seems. If I go by what Director said about Homeless man’s suspicious look seeing injured Min-sung, and how he proceeded to follow them, I doubt his corpse remained safely buried under those rocks.(Remember why they cremated Do-kyun’s body in the first place) Yikes! I know! Also, we are aware of the contradicting nature of this whole movie and the character itself, and that homeless man being the first to speak about cannibalism while later being shown eating a large bone(supposedly his friend’s) makes it even more disturbing. Sorry Min-sung! And then, there is another theory that what we saw with the collection of people happily living and feeding was actually unrealistic because of lack of water and rice in winter. But even if it is true, there’s a suspicion that someone is deliberately fattening them up to later consume them. Honestly, after watching what could become of human in times of crisis, that ending feels too much of a dream than the actual reality. 

 

5. Heart shaped symbol: Among the countless paradoxes that is dramatically presented in this movie, I find the contrary of this symbol and the situation to be the most hilarious as well as terrifying. The use of a big heart-shaped bulb which illuminated their main room, and the heart-shaped tattoo that was on the ring finger of a corpse that Min-sung encountered in one of his searches was displayed not so subtly in my opinion to convey its irony. 

T/W: 

Spoiler

 

6. What goes around, comes around and Parallelism: 

 

o   In the beginning, when the residents were trying to evict the outsiders, they threw heavy things from higher places in order to scare them to stay away from their apartment. So in that sense, everything besides the apartment naturally belonged to the outsiders. So, towards the end, when residents went for hunting of foods, they were attacked by outsiders in exactly the same way they did before from the higher places, throwing concrete chunks and fire balls. 

o   I am not sure if this is suitable here but when Min-sung retrieved his can of fruit from under the pile of junks at the apartment, flood of cockroaches came out, and residents were trampling and killing them in disgust and fear. Same as at the end, when they came back with tons of foods from outside, cockroaches/outsiders flocked inside the apartment and started attacking the residents. And if you pay close attention to the barrier they made at the gate, it almost looks like the pile of junks at the apartment in the beginning. 

o   When Mo Se-beom was killing real Young-tak, he picked and hit him with a baduk bowl with white stones in it, and shoved those stones down his throat as he killed him. In that sense as well, we know white stones = Evict/death just like the rule of the voting in the movie. So, when the truth of Young-tak being a cockroach/outsider was exposed, he was attacked and dragged by crowd of residents, who in a sense were collectively representing that white stones (Rejection of outsiders) pushing to kill him like that white stones he used to kill real Kim Young-tak. So, based on LBH’s interview on the scene, when he vomited and retched severely, he was expelling all the baduk stones that real Young-tak was holding. He was also disgusted by the overwhelming rejection, what he did to Hye-won, and the realization of what he has become as he seemed to finally came back to his senses. 

 

 

7. Gemini Meteor shower: Besides tactfully applying this real life phenomenon into the movie, there seems to be another reason why this specific phenomenon was chosen in the first place. The Gemini constellation represents twins Castor and Pollux in Greek mythology. However, unlike Castor, Pollux was immortal, and in this movie, they were represented by Kim Young-tak and Mo Se-beom — with them having and not having true ownership of the apartment. 

 

8. Canned Silkworm pupae: This was actually explained by Director in one of the GV. He mentioned that he used the can of silkworm pupae specifically because it looked like cockroaches, and Young-tak who we already knew was a cockroach chose and ate every last bit of it so deliciously as he went to confront Do-kyun in his house. Silkworm pupae was given to only the hardworking residents especially crime prevention teams, and the fact that it came from Myung-Hwa when she brought food to Do-kyun and his hidden outsiders, who eventually was the person to reveal that Young-tak is a cockroach makes all this far more interesting on how far the director have thought through to tell his story. 

 

9. Grave Diggers: It was shown very briefly but Do-kyun and those people who hid outsiders in their apartments were mostly residents who were assigned a digging duties in the apartment. The purpose of digging was not clarified in the movie, but it both felt like director wanted to tell us that they were someone who had secrets they wanted buried, or they were someone who were digging their own grave because keeping outsiders is against the apartment law and could bear severe consequences for them. 

 

10. Having toilet disposals in front of the apartment: It was said that back in the day, when poverty was extreme, people would actually poo in front of their own house and the act was encouraged to show off that they are well-fed. It was a symbol of their status of being able to feed and rich among the poor who had nothing to feed. And in the Concrete Utopia world, where everything is destroyed, and being the residents of the apartment was considered high status and it maybe being one of the ways to show it off to the outsiders makes me think humans will just never change, even if the world is turned upside down. This also goes well with how Min-sung found poo when he went behind the shop to find entrance. Contrary to the apartment people, shop owner definitely didn’t want to show off and let people to know there’s a sign of food. 

 

Lastly, I have this two scenes that are stuck in my mind, but I just couldn’t seem to organize my thoughts to find its meaning. The way it was presented both times seemed to hold bigger meaning to the story though because Director really took time to show it on screen. I’m sharing the pic of the scenes here, so if you guys have any thoughts, please share with me. I am dying to understand it.  

 

Spoiler

 

There are some more and I realized you always discover something new as you watch it. This makes Concrete Utopia one of the best Korean movies I’ve watched and enjoyed the process of learning more about it. I believe what I have assembled here is just the tip of the iceberg, and there are so much more to this amazing movie. If you have your analysis or something you thought otherwise, please feel free to share here. I’d love to read your thoughts on it. I’ll link the post I took references from under the post. Thank you for reading this painfully long post.  

 

Some DC inside and Qoo sources: here here here here 

[Ephoenix]

October 16, 2023 

 

Loved reading this interview of Director Uhm Tae-Hwa and his thought processes while making Concrete Utopia. It just makes me anticipate more on what he is going to bring in his next work. It might be a horror genre like he mentioned before but I wish LBH would work with him few more times in the future. Their dreamy personality and working codes matches well with each other, and the outcome is just fantastic. 

 

[INTERVIEW] <Concrete Utopia> Director Uhm Tae-hwa interview

 

Leaving a little hope even in a world full of despair. Dreaming of a utopia that does not  exist. Something that director Uhm Tae-hwa wants to somehow achieve through the film.

• 

 

In the movie <Concrete Utopia>, if you peel away one layer of disaster, you can see a group of people and yourself within them. The standard for judging the choices and actions of ‘Young-tak’ (Lee Byung-hun), ‘Min-seong’ (Park Seo-joon), and ‘Myeong-hwa’ (Park Bo-young) in order to survive, protect their family, and not give up their beliefs is a question asked to the audience themselves. Come back. After blurring the boundaries between good and evil, justice and injustice, director Uhm Tae-hwa says, let's now look into the heart of the person on the other side. I hope that such a utopia exists somewhere.

 

In a world where everything collapsed due to a major earthquake, an apartment building stands alone, and the people inside it. The story of the movie <Concrete Utopia> begins here. While there is no way to know how the earthquake occurred or how far the city collapsed, people face another disaster after the disaster. 

Even the original webtoon does not explain where and to what extent it collapsed. There is only a setting such as ‘We are closer to the moon’. I also thought I should start from that point and make a movie. We decided to start from the perspective of those who had no choice but to stay in the city without knowing how much it had collapsed. Some people asked what magnitude the earthquake was, and while I was making it, I was reminded of a situation where a collapse occurred not only in Korea but around the world. In other words, the work was done under the assumption that there was a huge problem on the entire planet.

 

What was the most important part in completing the story of the people in this apartment into a movie? 

The first was made with reality in mind, the second one with reality, and the third one as well with only reality in mind. While watching the original, I thought about why I found this story interesting, and at the core of it was the ‘apartment’. In Korean society, doesn’t the existence of an apartment mean more than just a living space? I thought it was a place of love and hate that was both a home and an asset for many people. So, it was most important to create pictures that would allow people to empathize with this story more realistically, and I put a lot of effort into the set work. Although it is not mentioned in the movie, the set was created while considering what neighborhood in Seoul the Imperial Palace Apartment would be in if it were real . Newlyweds Min-seong and Myeong-hwa thought about a few neighborhoods that they could get into and that were not far from the Han River, and ultimately came to the conclusion that the area near Yaksu subway station would be the most suitable. We actually looked at the topography of the Yaksu-dong area and went through a simulation before building an apartment. While building an imperial palace apartment building, I went hunting countless times and collected quite a bit of data.

 

It is impressive that the interior of each house, as well as the exterior, captures the character's characteristics so well that it feels 'real'. 

I thought of each house as a character and shaped it that way. If you watch a Korean documentary called <Times at Home>, no people appear and the camera continues to focus on various parts of the house, and that alone gives you an idea of what kind of people live there. With that in mind, we came up with a detailed plan with the goal of being able to tell whose house it is just by showing the inside.

 

Now let’s shift our gaze to the people in the apartment. After a major earthquake, the survivors first select a leader (temporary resident representative). After that, they establish laws (disciplines) and act according to them. It was like watching the process of forming a society. 

The psychology that is most focused on is fear. In reality, when people feel fear in an unpredictable situation, don't they tend to set up someone they can trust and hope that person will guide them? Furthermore, it can lead to blind trust in the leader. In this process, there are people who naturally follow, people who doubt, and sometimes people who rebel, and I wanted to clearly show the moment when the conflict between them arises and the psychology at that time. Some people interpreted it as the birth of a small nation, but I had no intention of dragging it to such a macro level. Rather, it was important to focus on human psychology, how different characters make choices, and what results those choices lead to.

 

Perhaps because of this, a wide variety of characters appear, including men and women of all ages.

I wanted to let the audience choose who they would sympathize with. Depending on the generation, beliefs, and what they want to protect, someone will sympathize with Yeong-tak or Min-seong, Do-gyun, Myung-hwa, or Geum-ae. At the same time, there are words that unite these diverse people. The line by Myeong-hwa, “They were just ordinary people,” makes me think about my connection with a character I could never understand. I think that ‘ordinary’ is a word that includes both altruistic and selfish, good and evil. It is also an expression of wanting to bring in the concept of ‘the banality of evil.’ In fact, if you look at human history, isn't there a record that even people who were considered extremely evil people were surprisingly turned out to be so ordinary when faced closely? It is also a line written with the hope that it would be good for people to think that a righteous choice can become a blade that can harm someone.

 

So, I cannot solely criticize or support the choices made by the people of the Imperial Palace Apartments. Even when you wonder how he could do that, it’d make you ask, ‘What if it were me?’ If you ask yourself this, you won't be able to come up with an easy answer. 

Since I'm hungry, that person must be hungry too. We need to change our position and think like this, but isn't this a difficult world to live in? Because ‘eating and living’ is particularly important in Korea. As a result, protecting your family and home is important, and if you only focus on that, it's easy to end up thinking 'I don’t care whatever happens to others'. I think these feelings accumulate and lead us to make choices that we call evil. Nevertheless, the ultimate goal was to have the characters in this film ultimately move towards compassion rather than evil. Because that could be me and my family.

 

Numerous characters appear in the movie. I think one of the concerns was how much of each character's story would be shown. 

That’s why the actors were very important. As it was impossible to show each character's warriors one by one, there was a lot of convincing that the actors had to do. It was a very difficult mission that you should feel like you understand who you are just by looking at one scene, and the actors expressed this brilliantly.

 

The acting skills of each actor, including Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon, Park Bo-young, Kim Sun-young, and Kim Do-yoon, are said to have raised the level of perfection of the film, to the extent that one wonders whether the numerous concerns mentioned above may have been resolved through their meeting. 

I often think that movies are like living organisms. What you initially thought of and the finished result may never be the same. In that difference or change, my unconsciousness will also be reflected, and numerous variables will also be included, and above all, the part created by the actor is the biggest one. After filling in the owner of each character one by one, we have a talk with the actors to change the tone or lines, and try other things while filming. And in this process, I achieve my own balance. I really enjoyed the process of changing things together with actors, and the pleasure of working with good actors in this movie was doubled. Not only actor Lee Byung-hun, but also actors Park Seo-joon and Park Bo-young did not settle for what was given, but continued to work hard to find out more from their characters. In particular, actress Park Bo-young did not fear anything and poured all her energy into Myung-hwa. Myeonghwa was clearly an altruistic person who was sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, but she was also trapped within the framework of the imperial palace apartment. I wanted to capture the moment when the choices she makes to protect her husband cross a certain line and reach madness, and actress Park Bo-young expressed that point very well.

 

There is an actor who has appeared in every work since your first feature film <Ingtugi> and adds to the power of the story. The presence of your younger brother, actor Uhm Tae-gu, cannot be left out. 

I am not very sociable. But shouldn't the director be able to talk a lot with the actor and draw out something from it and put it into the work? That was always a difficult part while filming, but it was easy because I didn't have to go through the process of getting to know my younger brother, and at the same time, I was able to rely on him. It's also good to do difficult things. In fact, the role of a homeless person in this movie was also difficult to ask someone just as a friendship appearance, but I finished the casting by simply asking, “Please do it.” (Laughs) I am waiting for the day when I will see a movie with my younger brother as the main character again.(Hello Director-nim! I am waiting for that day, too! )

 

Can we understand it to mean that Uhm Tae-gu will always appear in future movies? 

Yes. I want him to appear in my movie no matter whichever the character. 

 

I also wanted to ask about the ending. Is it hope or another despair?

Both are implied. However, I feel that it would be better to find a little hope if possible. However, I didn't want it to look forced, so I thought more deeply than ever about the actor's facial expressions, background music, and angles.

 

So, was the Imperial Palace Apartment truly a utopia? I also asked these questions: 

In fact, doesn't the word utopia itself mean a place that exists nowhere else? That's why I like the title <Concrete Utopia>.

 

What does utopia look like outside of the story and to the filmmaker? It is something that is best dreamed of even if it does not exist . 

In 2005, I went to the Busan International Film Festival and attended the GV for the film <Princess Raccoon> by the now deceased director Seijun Suzuki. The director, who was over 80 years old, went on stage wearing an oxygen respirator to talk to the audience, and the scene was so shocking. And when one of the audience members said that his dream was to become a director and asked if he would share the know-hows of becoming a director, the response he received was, “You can’t reveal that to your future competitors.” Wouldn’t it be a utopia for a director to continue making movies until the end of his life?

 

What is the journey towards utopia like? 

You can move forward in reality, or you can go swimming in a dream. I guess I'm not very realistic. In other words, it borders on idealism, and I think that aspect has helped me continue my film career. My personality is inherently optimistic. But there is no solution. (Laughs) In this movie, there are lines like “What are you going to do?”, “We have to do it no matter what”, “How are we going to do?”, and that’s what I say often. This may sound very irresponsible, but I think I just continued with the belief that I could make a movie. This phrase appear in my first feature film, <Ingtugi>? “It’s a strength to be able to keep going.”

 

I think that the score achieved by <Concrete Utopia> repaid that belief to some extent. Even though the situation was not as lively as before, the number of viewers exceeded 3.8 million. 

Of course. Movies are a manifestation of personal dreams, but at the same time, we must not lose sight of the fact that they are also commercial activities. In that sense, the current score is like gaining great energy for the next work.

 

What kind of film do you hope will be remembered after the hot summer of 2023? 

When I was making <Intoogi>, I thought it would be nice if this story could become a movie like <The March of Fools>. If <The March of Fools> is a story that shows youth in the 1980s, I hoped that <Intoogi> will remain as a film that records the concerns of youth living in 2012. I hope that <Concrete Utopia> will one day exist as a movie where people’s concerns and the context of the times can be read when looking back in 2023. 

 

Source: Marie Claire

[Ephoenix]

October 19, 2023 

 

Concrete Utopia has been nominated for the Best Picture Award at the 59th Grand Bell Awards.

 

 

The 59th Grand Bell Awards unveiled its best picture nomination.

The Daejong Award Film Festival Committee selected candidates for the best picture award for all domestic releases (including series) from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023 (including Chuseok releases in 2023).

Six films, including the films "Cobweb" (director Kim Ji-woon), "Concrete Utopia" (director Um Tae-hwa), "Smugglers" (director Ryu Seung-wan), "The Night Owl" (director Ahn Tae-jin), "Sleep" (director Yoo Jae-sun), and "Next So-hee" (director Jeong Ju-ri), passed the preliminary hearing.

Lee Sang-woo, secretary-general of the Daejong Film Festival, said, "The preliminary screening committee, which represents the domestic film industry and critics, delivered the nomination for the best picture award through independent screening over the past month to the committee.The newly launched main review panel and 100 members of the national review panel plan to select the best work award through a fair process, it said.

The 59th Grand Bell Awards will be held jointly with the Gyeonggi Arts Center for the first time and will be held on November 15.

 

source: here 

[confusedheart]

NEW EVENT ALERT!

 

What new drama airing in OCT-DEC 2023 interest you and why? Vote for you most anticipated drama now!

 

re: @confusedheart @partyon @agenth and @Sleepy Owl

[Ephoenix]

October 24, 2023 

 

Concrete Utopia has been nominated for 11 categories at the 59th Grand Bell Awards.

 

 

Here are the list of nominations for Concrete Utopia: 

• Best Picture 
• Best Director- Uhm Tae-Hwa 
• Best Actor- Lee Byung Hun
• Best Supporting Actress- Kim Sun Young 
• Best Screenplay - Uhm Tae-Hwa and Lee Shin Ji 
• Best Cinematography - Cho Hyung Rae 
• Best Music Score- Kim Hae Won 
• Best Editing- Han Mi Yeon 
• Best Visual Effects/Technical Award- Eun Jae Hyun 
• Best Sound Effects- Kim Seok Won 
• Best Art Direction- Jo Hyun Sung and Choi Hyun Seok

Meanwhile, the 59th Grand Bell Awards/Dajeong film Awards will be held at the Grand Theater of the Gyeonggi Arts Center on November 15. source: here 

[Ephoenix]

October 27, 2023

 

‘Concrete Utopia’: Korea Oscar Entry Sets Early December Theatrical Launch

 

Lotte Entertainment

 

EXCLUSIVE: Concrete Utopia, South Korea’s International Film Oscar entry this year, will hit theaters in NY and LA on Dec. 8 with a wide release on Dec. 15.  In the U., 815 Pictures and Seismic Releasing are releasing the Lotte Entertainment feature. 

 

The movie opened in South Korea on Aug. 9 and minted over $27M there, and close to $29M overall including Hong Kong and Vietnam. 

 

The Um Tae-hwa directed disaster epic centers around a massive earthquake in Seoul. Everything in the city has collapsed, except for one building. Hwang Gung Apartments remains standing, as it was before that day. When survivors from the outside hear of this, they begin to gather at Hwang Gung Apartments. However, the original residents of the building start to feel threatened. Banding together for the sake of their survival, they elect ‘Young-tak’ as their Resident Delegate. Under his leadership, they strictly ban entry by outsiders and draw up a new set of Resident Regulations. Thanks to this, in contrast to the hellish nightmare outside, Hwang Gung Apartments stands as a safe and peaceful utopia for its residents. But amidst the continual threats to their survival, unexpected conflicts begin to arise among them…

 

The movie is based on Kim Soong-Nyung’s webtoon Cheerful Outcast Part II, Cheerful Neighbor. The pic stars Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-jun, Park Bo-young, Kim Sun-young, Park Ji-hu, Kim Do-yoon. 

 

Source: Deadline 

[Ephoenix]

October 28, 2023 

 

Concrete Utopia Script book created by Plain Archive on IG @plainarchive 

 

I think its the front and back cover of the script book 

 

Including both screenplay and the storyboard, with little glimpse from inside the book. 

 

And Today, Director Uhm Tae-Hwa and Park Bo Young flew to London to attend the 8th London East Asia. Film festival, where Concrete Utopia is selected as a closing film on October 29. It was previously mentioned that both of them will attend the Q&A session after the movie. 

 

Actress Park Bo Young on her way to London today. 

https://youtu.be/4BETMuOnSnY?si=txcGrUF0LSaCd4gV

[Ephoenix]

October 30, 2023 

 

Concrete Utopia London East Asia Film Festival Highlights: 

 

 

Director Uhm Tae-Hwa and Actress park Bo Young at the red carpet of London East Asia Film Festival Closing Gala for Concrete Utopia. They joined the Q&A session after the movie. 

 

Congratulations, Park Bo Young for winning Best Actor Award at the 8th London East Asia Film Festival. 

 

 

 

I will share the link for Q&A later if the LEAFF shared it later on. I think this pretty much concludes now for the promotion of CU overseas. 

[Ephoenix]

November 1, 2023

 

‘Concrete Utopia’ Director Um Tae-Hwa On His Apocalyptic Drama: “In Korea, Where You Live Is Who You Are” – London East Asia Film Festival

 

 

The London East Asia Film festival came to a close on Sunday night with the UK premiere of Concrete Utopia, Korea’s entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2024 Oscars. After the event’s Best Film award went to Iron Mask, by Kim Sung Hwan, artistic director Hyejung Jeon presented its Rising Star award to Hong Xa-bin for his performance in Kim Chang-hoon’s Hopeless and its Best Actor award to Concrete Utopia’s Park Bo-young. 

 

Actress Park later returned after the film for a Q&A with director, Um Tae-hwa, to discuss the film’s themes of survival, which suddenly seemed shockingly relevant after recent events in Ukraine and Israel/Gaza.

 

Starring Lee Byung-hun, Um’s film is a dystopian fable that recalls British writer J.G. Ballard in its depiction of a South Korean high-rise that is  somehow left unscathed after a terrifying earthquake rips through the country. Although Lee steals the show as a charismatic leader, the story is seen through the eyes of a young couple — Ming-seong (Park Seo-joon) and (Park Bo-young) — who wake up one morning to find that their life as they know it, and in fact the whole world, has changed forever.

 

Director Um told moderator Ian Haydn Smith that he understood why people might call it a disaster movie, but said he was trying for something a little more profound. “I’d call this an apocalyptic film rather than a disaster film,” he said, “because I didn’t think the disaster itself is very important. I focus more on what people do when they are put in such extreme circumstances. What I tried to do was focus on the characters and their backstories, but I did it in a gradual way. I provided information little by little, making sure that it didn’t interfere with the flow of the story.”

 

In lieu of gratuitous carnage, Um focuses on the hierarchies of society, and how quickly neighbors will turn on each other in times of stress: residents of the high-rise soon start to turn away anyone seeking shelter, sending them to an icy grave. “To give you a little background,” he said, “in Korea, where you live is who you are. Where you live is your social rank. And I wanted to show that in the story. There are social ranks like this everywhere, I think, but in Korea it’s a lot worse, or maybe just stronger.”

 

Avoiding spoilers, actress Park explained her character’s journey, noting that she grows from being passive to being more active as a result of seeing how this apocalyptic event turns her kind, humble husband into a man she doesn’t recognize.

 

“I don’t believe anybody is completely evil or completely good in this film,” said Um. “I think this is a story that you can watch and be able to identify with any one of the characters. And because you can identify with, or understand, each and every one of the characters, no matter who you choose, that’s what makes it so much scarier. Why? Because these are all ordinary people who’ve had to make choices to protect themselves. And then you have to ask, Is that right? Does that make it right? When people are in such extreme circumstances, and they’re overcome with fear, they’re faced with a situation where they have to choose between survival or dignity.”

 

source: Deadline 

[Ephoenix]

November 4, 2023 

 

[Exclusive] ‘Concrete Utopia’ to be released in the US in December… ‘Oscar campaign’ begins in earnest 

 

Released across the U.S. on December 15th Ahead of next year's Academy Awards Aiming at selecting candidates for the International Feature Film Award. 

 

 

Director Uhm Tae-hwa's 'Concrete Utopia' has confirmed its US release in December.

 

According to the film industry on the 2nd, 'Concrete Utopia' (produced by Climax Studio) is scheduled to meet audiences in some regions of the United States on December 8th and then be released across the country on December 15th.

 

The US release of 'Concrete Utopia' is all the more noteworthy in that it takes place ahead of the 96th Academy Awards (Oscars) to be held in March next year. 

 

This is because 'Concrete Utopia' was selected as the Korean film entry for next year's Academy Award for International Feature Film last August. The Korean Film Council unanimously selected 'Concrete Utopia' as the Korean film's entry in the International Feature Film Award category with seven judges.

 

Accordingly, 'Concrete Utopia' began its 'Oscar Campaign', an active publicity and promotion aimed at nominations and awards, from the end of the previous year prior to the annual Academy Awards ceremony. In particular, it appears that 'Concrete Utopia' is also pushing for a release around this time as it must meet conditions such as screening for a certain period of time in the Los Angeles area to be considered for nominations.

 

Only one film can be submitted from each country in the International Feature Film Award category. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), which hosts the Academy Awards, selects 15 films from each country as preliminary candidates and selects five of them as finalists in the International Feature Film category. Last year, director Park Chan-wook's 'Decision to Break Up' was included in the preliminary list of candidates, but did not make it to the final list.

 

'Concrete Utopia', released on August 9, is a disaster film that depicts the story that begins with survivors gathering in the only remaining palace apartment in Seoul, which has been devastated by a major earthquake. Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon, Park Bo-young, and Kim Sun-young appeared. It attracted 3.84 million viewers (as of November 2), receiving favorable reviews for its fresh reinterpretation of the genre and the actors' excellent performances.

 

source: Maxmovie 

[Ephoenix]

November 5, 2023

 

Concrete Utopia has been nominated for 11 categories at the 44th Blue Dragon Film Awards

 

원본보기

 

Here are the list of nominations for Concrete Utopia: 

• Best Picture 
• Best Director- Uhm Tae-Hwa 
• Best Actor- Lee Byung Hun
• Best Actress - Park Bo Young
• Best Supporting Actress- Kim Sun Young 
• Best Screenplay - Uhm Tae-Hwa and Lee Shin Ji 
• Best Cinematography - Cho Hyung Rae 
• Best Music Score- Kim Hae Won 
• Best Editing- Han Mi Yeon 
• Best Visual Effects/Technical Award- Eun Jae Hyun
• Best Art Direction- Jo Hyun Sung and Choi Hyun Seok

The award ceremony will be held at KBS Hall on November 24, and will be broadcast live on KBS2. All the best, Team Concrete Utopia!! 

 

Source: here 

[Ephoenix]

November 10,2023 

 

[Oscar Campaign] Lee Byung-hun and Director Uhm Tae-Hwa at the Los Angeles Times THE ENVELOPE event yesterday evening. 

 

CONCRETE UTOPIA

(Sponsored by 815 Pictures and LOTTE Entertainment)

In-Person Screening November 9, 2023 at 6:30pm followed by a live Q&A with Director Um Tae-hwa and Actor Lee Byung-hun. Source: here 

 

He is so busy flying one stop to another, from Paris few days ago and now in LA. Hope he's getting enough rest in between. 

 

Spoiler

Pic credit: LBH manager Choi Young hoon IG 

 

From Q&A Moderator Scott Mantz on Twitter. He wrote, 

 

"Moderated a fascinating Q&A with actor LEE BYUNG-HUN & writer-director UM TAE-HWA for “CONCRETE UTOPIA,” which is S. KOREA’S OSCAR submission for BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE! This movie is INCREDIBLE and has to be seen on the big screen in LA on 12/8 and nationwide on 12/15!" 

 

 

Link for Los Angeles Times THE ENVELOPE Q&A 

https://youtu.be/V8VzTLlT0yI?si=InUjAaCTPPnRLdwi

 

 

[Ephoenix]

November 15, 2023 

 

CONGRATULATIONS, CONCRETE UTOPIA!!! 

 

Concrete Utopia won 6 categories out of 11 categories they were nominated at the 59th Grand Bell Awards. 

 

 

• Best Picture: Concrete Utopia 
• Best Actor: Lee Byung Hun 
• Best Supporting Actress: Kim Sun Young 
• Best Visual Effects/VFX Award: Eun Jae Hyun 
• Best Sound Effects: Kim Seok Won 
• Best Art Direction: Jo Hyun Sung and Choi Hyun Seok

[Ephoenix]

November 22, 2023 

 

[INTERVIEW] New Cineaste 18th A-Awards -Director Uhm Tae-hwa 

 

Korean films are crossing a new inflection point. It is young directors who are drawing that curve. It is noteworthy that today's film directors are part of a generation that dreamed of becoming film directors while watching Korean films. <Arena> highlighted four Korean directors who created new waves through the 2023 A- Awards. Director Bong Joon-ho called the four directors ‘rising young directors.’ As the name suggests, they are emerging young directors. <Concrete Utopia> Uhm Tae-hwa, <Mask Girl> Kim Yong-hoon, <DP> Han Jun-hee, and <Sleep> Yoo Jae-seon talk about today's Korean movies and today's Korean series.

 

The man who walked into dystopia

Director Uhm Tae-hwa answered that a good movie is like paint sprinkled on gray concrete. He had a gentle but firm tone, and although he was calm throughout the interview, he never hesitated. The world inside and outside of <Concrete Utopia> as told by director Uhm Tae-hwa.

 

 

Director Uhm Tae-hwa began his film career as a director for Park Chan-wook's <Three, Monster>, which was released in 2004. Afterwards, he worked in the production department of <Kindly Lady Vengeance> and learned directing under director Park Chan-wook. He directed his first feature film <Ingtugi> in 2013, and won the Best New Director Award at the 54th Grand Bell Awards for his first commercial film <Hidden Time> in 2016. <Concrete Utopia> was released in 2023 and was selected as Korea's entry in the International Feature Film category at the 96th American Academy Film Awards.

 

 

What is your level of job satisfaction as a film director?
I'm on the high side. It's not often that you can make money while doing what you want to do. In a way, you can make money while doing your hobby. It also means that you can make money while ‘virturing.’ In that respect, the level of satisfaction is really high.

 

You majored in advertising design. I’m curious about the story when you decided to make a movie.
When I was a college student, I worked part-time on CF shoots and then ended up going to the movie art team. It was the scene of a movie called <Wet Dream>. It's a really old movie. (Laughs) While working on the art team, I thought, 'The process of translating text into video is very attractive,' and I thought I wanted to try making movies.

 

I’m curious about your impressions when you first saw the completed version of <Concrete Utopia>.
When the mixed sound file comes to the DI (color correction) room, we attach it to the color-corrected screen and screen it among ourselves. That was the first time I saw the finished product, and in fact, it was more of an inspection than an appreciation. (Laughs) I just focused on looking for problems, making sure there were no scenes with no sound or dark screens.

 

<Concrete Utopia> received favorable reviews at home and abroad. Is there any particularly memorable feedback?
I once saw a review where a family of four came to see a movie and were divided because of different opinions. Each person empathized with a different character. I thought it would be nice to see it that way when I was making the movie. I wanted everyone to watch and discuss the movie from their own perspective. As we talk, we wonder, 'How should we live to create a better world where we can coexist?' You can think about it. Even if I didn't know the right answer to that question, I wanted to take the time to think about it. Even though it was just one family's episode, I felt very good because I felt like people watched the movie the way I wanted.

 

Whose side did Uhm Tae-hwa take in the work, not the director Um Tae-hwa, but the human being? I really resented Myeonghwa (Park Bo-young) a lot.
I don't agree with that opinion. (Laughs) There are many people who say that her husband Min-seong (Park Seo-joon) died because of Myeonghwa, but strictly speaking, it happened because of Min-seong's choice. I even saw a review that said, ‘The Imperial Palace Apartment was ruined because of the Myeong-Hwa,’ but that’s not true either. The palace apartments collapsed when outsiders came back in, and Myeonghwa was the one who said not to kick out outsiders in the first place. I wanted to correct the part about Myeong-Hwa that wasn't facts. That doesn't mean I wanted to say that Min-seong and Yeong-tak's values are all wrong. Survival and human dignity are both important values in living. I wanted to make the audience see the conflict between the two values and make myself think about my own choices as if looking in a mirror. I also asked, 'What would I do if I were in that situation right now?' This is not an easy question to ask. You might be wondering, ‘Why are you doing this with a problem that has no answer?’ But I think I thought that just living by asking these questions would make the world a little better.

 

From the moment I saw the screen at the filming site, I thought, ‘Ah, it’s out!’ I think there are some famous scenes that you would like to see.
I remember the scene where Moses Beom (Lee Byung-hun) kills the real Kim Young-tak (Park Jong-hwan) and screams, “Give me my money.” All the staff on site were fascinated by the monitor while watching that scene. Actor Lee Byung-hun, who was involved, also looked at the monitor and said, “This is my face, but it’s my first time seeing it too.”

 

Like many people, I was most impressed by actor Lee Byung-hun's 'Apartment' song scene. Director, please introduce one of your favorite scenes.
At the end of the movie, Min-seong (Park Seo-joon) kills a man by hitting him with a can of Yellow peach, and when he sees Yeong-tak and the apartment residents fighting with outsiders in the distance, he briefly thinks about joining them. Then he suddenly looked at his wife and thought, 'What am I doing?' There is a scene where he decides to get out of there. I think actor Park Seo-joon did a really good job of acting. It makes me cry every time I see it. As you said earlier, ‘Ah, it came out!’ It was also a scene I was sure of.

 

From a director's point of view, what kind of actor is a good actor?
An actor who is anxious and doubts his own acting. An actor who harasses the director by constantly asking questions. I think that such an actor ultimately continues to improve. He goes beyond what the director cannot do and makes the characters more three-dimensional. I welcome actors harassing me at any time.

 

I heard that close to 3,000 people auditioned for <Concrete Utopia>. What do you focus on when auditioning for an actor?
Since I am not someone who has learned acting technically, it is very difficult to say clearly. What can I say even if I say the same lines? There are real, living people who are doing it together. I can't explain it, but there's a strange acting that seems to change the air. I feel happy when I find people like that.

 

Are there any ad-libbed scenes in this work?
There is a scene where Kim Young-tak (Lee Byung-hun) writes his name. Originally, we were going to write that scene between us after filming. It's a close-up scene where only the hand appears. But senior Lee Byung-hun said, ‘I’ll just write that,’ and then asked me, ‘How about I write M first?’ He said so. With that one scene, we can foreshadow that this person is not Kim Young-tak, but actually Moses Beom.

 

When interviewing an actor, he said that he asks a lot of questions to the director. Do you have any memorable questions from this period of work?
This is also the story of actor Lee Byung-hun. In fact, in the script, Kim Young-tak was a character that gave off a slight hint of a villain from the beginning. Even when this person became a dictator, the amount of change that the audience saw was smaller than it is now. Actor Lee Byung-hun suggested the idea of widening the gap further. In a way that he emphasized the feeling of being more clumsy and being pushed around by others to become a leader. I think he changed the details of the acting little by little and was able to create a more dramatic character as a result.

 

In fact, nothing has changed in the scenario.
that's right. Instead, I added a scene. After the disaster flashback scene, there is a scene where Young Tak looks at the ruins alone, then looks back at the apartment and thinks about something. I felt like we needed a scene where we could tell, ‘At this time, Kim Young-tak is making a decision.’

 

As always, actor Uhm Tae-gu also appeared in this movie. When you ask his younger brother to appear, do you just call him?
I did it through the company. (Laughs) Of course, I wrote the script. “Please take a look. What do you think of this role?” And let me ask him first and he said it's okay. We suggested it through the company, just like we recruit other actors.

 

This is an embarrassing question, but what about the appearance fee?
This time there was a small appearance fee. Actor Uhm Tae-gu asked me to use the money to run a coffee truck, so I did that. It was truly a friendship show.

 

The director chose actor Uhm Tae-gu as his persona. As a director, what kind of actor is Uhm Tae-gu?
He is an actor whose sincerity is his greatest weapon. Sometimes, he is the type of person who practices over and over again to the point that I worry that he is pushing himself too hard. At the same time, I think he's an actor whose acting has animalistic nature as well. 

 

Do you have a favorite time of day?
I have a religion. I go to church, and when I'm filming or having a hard time keeping my head together, I watch a 20-minute sermon by my favorite pastor. The video is uploaded at 6 a.m., but I don't watch it at that time. (Laughs) I feel at ease when I watch the video when I have time during the day or when I need to. That time is important to me.

 

What do you think are good movies?

In some ways, it is similar to the theme covered in <Concrete Utopia>. Throughout the movie, there are people who believe there is only black and white, and in the final scene, various colors of light come through the stained glass. In that respect, I think a good movie is like paint that adds color to gray concrete.

 

That's really cool. Do you usually prepare answers like this in advance?
Actually, a high school student asked a similar question at the ‘Sitges Film Festival’. (Laughs) This is the answer that came to mind at the time. A similar question was asked again, so I answered it as is.

 

I heard that your current age is the same age that director Park Chan-wook made “Old Boy.”
What kind of person would you like to be remembered as when you were at the age of the current Director Park Chan-wook? A director who is not confined to a mold. He is someone who always tries to break the mold and make movies that try to break the mold. Director Park Chan-wook is that kind of person.

 

 

5 movies from director Uhm Tae-hwa’s life

<Terminator> & <Terminator 2: The Original>, James Cameron, 1984 & 1991

Ican't forget the Bones in Fire robot that I happened to see on a cable channel as a child. I think the apocalyptic sentiment shown in <Terminator> still lingered in my subconscious.
<Silver Fang>, Yoshihiro Takahashi, 1986
Although it is not a movie, it is an animation that cannot be left out when choosing the work of your life. When I was young, I watched it with my younger brother and played by switching roles. This is a work I still enjoy looking at to this day.
<Gone Girl>, David Fincher, 2014
A film that made me wish the movie would never end the whole time I was watching it. It felt flawless in every way.
<Old Boy>, Park Chan-wook, 2003
A film that overwhelms you with its non-stop energy. If you ask me, ‘What kind of work do you want to make in the future?’, I would answer that I want to make a movie like “Old Boy,” where I feel like I’m going to explode because I don’t know what to do with my boiling emotions.
<Fargo>, Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, 1996
A work I turn on when I'm writing a screenplay and things don't go well. Even if it doesn't directly affect me, the emotion of Fargo feels like it's touching the detonator in my head.

 

Source: Arena Korea 

 

https://youtu.be/hbjha5Ew1TU?si=quldr82IpQMIIEBJ

 

[Ephoenix]

November 24, 2023 

 

[The 44th Blue Dragon Awards] Congratulations, Concrete Utopia!!! 

 

 

 

Best Actor: Lee Byung-hun 

Popularity Star Award: Park Bo-young 

Best Director: Uhm Tae Hwa 

 

[Ephoenix]

December 1, 2023 

 

CONCRETE UTOPIA nominated in 4 categories at The 28th Chunsa International Film Festival

 

 

• Best Director - Uhm Tae-hwa 
• Best Actor - Lee Byung Hun 
• Best Screenplay - Lee Sin Je and Uhm Tae-hwa 
• Best New Director - Uhm Tae-hwa 

Hosted and organized by the Korea Film Directors Association, the Chunsa International Film Festival is a non-profit competitive film festival held to honor Chunsa Na Un-gyu's passion for film and his fighting spirit for life, which was established in 1990 and marks its 28th anniversary this year.

 

All other universal film awards have the best picture award, but the Chunsa International Film Festival has raised the authority of film directors since the 19th in 2014 and is the only one to set and operate the best director award.

 

The 28th Chunsa International Film Festival will open at the Vista Hall of the Construction Center on December 7.

 

Source: Naver and Instagram

 

 

[Ephoenix]

Opening Day  | "Concrete Utopia" | USA

 

New York and Los Angeles Exclusively In Theaters on Friday, December 8

Nationwide Starting December 15

 

Current Theaters List

New York City - Regal Union Square - December 8

Los Angeles - TCL Chinese, Hollywood - December 8

Los Angeles - AMC Burbank 16 - December 8

New York - AMC Kips Bay - December 15

New York - AMC Empire - December 15

Los Angeles - Laemmle Monica Film Center - December 15

Chicago, IL - AMC River East - December 15

Westbury, MO - AMC Raceway - December 15

Oakdale, MN - Marcus Oakdale - December 15

St. Louis, MO - Marcus Ronnie's - December 15

 

TRT: 129 minutes

Language: Korean with English Subtitles