Concrete Utopia

The film threads through 1970s Seoul, a period of rapid apartment construction and economic growth. By December 2023, a massive earthquake and cold wave devastate the city, leaving only one building standing. The story contrasts these eras to explore how people respond when civilization collapses.

In December 2023, the only surviving structure in a ruined Seoul is the Hwang Gung Apartments, a once-grand high-rise now reduced to gray dust and rubble. The surrounding city lies in silence without power, water, or communications, as residents hoard dwindling supplies. The complex becomes a microcosm of society, where fear and scarcity shape loyalties and life-or-death decisions.

🧭 Survival

With no power, water, or communications, residents improvise to secure basic needs. Scarcity drives tough choices, barter, and violence, testing loyalties between neighbors. The survival instinct gradually overrides empathy, revealing the darker side of human resilience.

👑 Power

A leader rises from the wreckage, imposing strict rules, labor-based food distribution, and security patrols. The veneer of order masks coercion and the potential tyranny of those who claim to protect the community. External expulsions and vigilantism reveal how easily power corrupts in crisis.

🪪 Identity

An impostor, a taxi driver, steals another man’s life to survive, undermining the social order from within. The revelation shatters the illusion of stability and exposes how identity can be weaponized in a desperate environment. Trust becomes precarious as secrets unravel.

🏚️ Outsiders

Outsiders are labeled as 'cockroaches' and targeted for exclusion. Some residents secretly shelter refugees, hinting at a more humane impulse beneath the harsh rhetoric. When organized outsiders attack, the fragile social order collapses into chaos and violence.