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Pierce Conran

Lead cast: Ha Jung-woo, Lim Soo-jung, Kim Jun-han, Shim Eun-kyung, Krystal Jung
Latest Nielsen rating: 4.5 per cent
Ha Jung-woo (Narco-Saints) makes a rare appearance on the small screen in the blackly comic kidnap thriller Mad Concrete Dreams, the K-drama debut of cult genre filmmaker Yim Pil-sung (Hansel and Gretel).
Ha heads an ensemble cast featuring Lim Soo-jung (Chicago Typewriter), Kim Jun-han (Newtopia), Shim Eun-kyung (Money Game) and Krystal Jung (Crazy Love) in this tale that satirises South Korea’s all-too-familiar real estate woes.


The “mad concrete dreams” belong to Ha’s character, Ki Su-jong, a hard-working family man who has scraped together every loan he can to get himself on the property ladder. He now owns a small commercial building in town, but save for a cafe on the first floor, the property remains empty.
Faced with a bleak financial reality, Su-jong still works as a delivery driver – a fact he tries to hide from his wife, Kim Seon (Lim), and their high-school-age daughter, Da-rae.
Things go from bad to worse when Su-jong’s debt is bought by Real Capital and Global Partners, a mysterious Japanese firm represented in South Korea by the icily intimidating Kim Yo-na (Shim). Real Capital calls in the debt, giving Su-jong a week to cough it up before they foreclose on him.
Su-jong’s desperation drives him to danger when he becomes caught between two criminal enterprises. On the one hand, Real Capital has been acquiring local properties for a major redevelopment scheme and has no qualms about resorting to murder when confronted with holdouts and obstacles.

Closer to home, Su-jong steps into his building’s basement one day, surprised to find it occupied by his friend Min Hwal-seong (Kim) standing over his own drugged wife, Jeong Yi-kyeong (Jung). Hwal-seong has kidnapped her to extort money from her rich mother, Jeon Yang-ja (Kim Keum-soon, The Dream Life of Mr. Kim), who has long looked down on him.
Seeing no other way to dig himself out of his predicament, Su-jong allows himself to be roped into the equally desperate Hwal-seong’s scheme in exchange for a share of the ransom.
Though it makes for a catchy international title, Mad Concrete Dreams does not quite capture the pressing social and economic themes of its Korean counterpart, How to Become a Building Owner in South Korea.
Owning real estate is the ultimate marker of financial stability in Korea, where social conversations often revolve around housing prices or constantly evolving property regulations. The pressure to own property pushes people into taking out large loans, which has led to the country having one of the highest household debt ratios in the world.

Also driving debt is people’s willingness to gamble on rumours that certain pockets of real estate may be next in line for government-led redevelopment projects, which can dramatically inflate property prices.
This is precisely the predicament Su-jong has landed himself in, having initially convinced his many creditors that a redevelopment on the horizon would generate a healthy return on their investment. What he was not banking on was a far bigger player swooping in to claim the whole pie, including his sliver of it.
Mad Concrete Dreams is positioned to appeal to viewers struggling in Korea’s unforgiving modern economy and is sympathetic to the kind of rash decision-making born of desperation.
At no point does Hwal-seong make a good impression, but Su-jong is painted as a family man struggling against the machine. He makes some unwise choices, yet he is a good person at heart.
However, once he becomes involved in the kidnapping ploy and starts injecting sedatives into the veins of a young woman lying blindfolded on the concrete floor of his basement, that sympathy begins to evaporate.

Is there a way for Su-jong to redeem himself, or will he descend into a moral tailspin, akin to Walter White’s transformation into Heisenberg in Breaking Bad?
Since Mad Concrete Dreams’ reliance on comedy and geniality suggests that the latter is an unlikely outcome, it feels as though it may ultimately forgive its protagonist’s criminal actions to some degree.
Korea’s real estate inequality is a home-grown problem, but by presenting Real Capital as a shadowy foreign entity, populated by nefarious characters speaking in a stylised mix of Japanese and English, the show seems to be teeing up an emotional scapegoat for Su-jong.
Then again, if the show succeeds as engaging entertainment – which it does, thanks to controlled pacing and colourful performances, particularly from Shim – to whom does it need to be held morally accountable?
Mad Concrete Dreams is streaming on HBO Max.


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Ha Jung-woo as main character Ki Su-jong in a still from Mad Concrete Dreams, a gripping satire of South Korea’s property crisis.

Shim Eun-kyung as Real Capital and Global Partners representative Kim Yo-na in a still from Mad Concrete Dreams.

Krystal Jung (left) as Jeong Yi-kyeong and Kim Jun-han as husband Min Hwal-seong in a still from Mad Concrete Dreams.

Ha Jung-woo (left) as main character Ki Su-jong with Lim Soo-jung as wife Kim Seon in a still from Mad Concrete Dreams.

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Mad Concrete Dreams, starring Ha Jung-woo, explores South Korea’s all-too-familiar property woes through a darkly comic thriller


Mad Concrete Dreams, starring Ha Jung-woo, explores South Korea’s all-too-familiar property woes through a darkly comic thriller.


HBO Max K-drama Mad Concrete Dreams: Ha Jung-woo leads tale on Korea’s housing nightmare

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Mad Concrete Dreams, starring Ha Jung-woo, explores South Korea’s all-too-familiar property woes through a darkly comic thriller

Mad Concrete Dreams, starring Ha Jung-woo, explores South Korea’s all-too-familiar property woes through a darkly comic thriller