The New Film Isn't Likely to Be Stranger Than the Science Fiction Psychological Drama It's Adapted From
Aegean avant-garde director Yorgos Lanthimos specializes in extremely strange movies. The narratives he creates veer into the bizarre, for instance The Lobster, in which unattached individuals are compelled to form relationships or else be changed into beasts. Whenever he interprets someone else’s work, he frequently picks basis material that’s quite peculiar too — odder, maybe, than his cinematic take. This proved true regarding the recent Poor Things, a screen interpretation of the novel by Alasdair Gray delightfully aberrant novel, a feminist, open-minded spin on Frankenstein. Lanthimos’ version stands strong, but partially, his particular flavor of weirdness and the author's balance each other.
His New Adaptation
Lanthimos’ next pick for adaptation was likewise drawn from the fringes. The basis for Bugonia, his latest project alongside leading actress Emma Stone, is 2004’s Save the Green Planet!, a bewildering Korean mix of styles of sci-fi, dark humor, horror, satire, dark psychodrama, and cop drama. The movie is odd not primarily due to what it’s about — although that's decidedly unusual — rather because of the wild intensity of its tone and storytelling style. The film is a rollercoaster.
The Burst of Korean Film
It seems there was something in the air in South Korea during that period. Save the Green Planet!, written and directed by Jang Joon-hwan, was included in a surge of stylistically bold, boundary-pushing movies from fresh voices of filmmakers such as Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook. It came out the same year as Bong’s Memories of Murder and the filmmaker's Oldboy. Save the Green Planet! isn’t on the same level as those iconic films, but there are similarities with them: graphic brutality, dark comedy, bitter social commentary, and genre subversion.
Narrative Progression
Save the Green Planet! is about a troubled protagonist who abducts a chemical-company executive, thinking he's an alien from the planet Andromeda, intent on world domination. At first, this concept is played as slapstick humor, and the lead, Lee Byeong-gu (the performer from Park’s Joint Security Area and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), seems like a charmingly misguided figure. Together with his innocent entertainer girlfriend Su-ni (Hwang Jung-min) sport plastic capes and bizarre masks adorned with anti-mind-control devices, and wield balm for defense. But they do succeed in abducting inebriated businessman Kang Man-shik (actor Baek) and bringing him to the protagonist's isolated home, a dilapidated building assembled in a former excavation in a rural area, where he keeps bees.
Growing Tension
Hereafter, the film veers quickly into something more grotesque. Lee fastens Kang into a makeshift device and physically abuses him while declaiming outlandish ideas, finally pushing his kind girlfriend away. Yet the captive is resilient; fueled entirely by the certainty of his innate dominance, he can and will to endure awful experiences to attempt an exit and dominate the disturbed protagonist. Meanwhile, a notably inept manhunt for the abductor begins. The officers' incompetence and clumsiness recalls Memories of Murder, though it may not be as deliberate in a film with a narrative that appears haphazard and unrehearsed.
A Frenetic Journey
Save the Green Planet! continues racing ahead, fueled by its wild momentum, defying conventions underfoot, even when one would assume it to find stability or falter. At moments it appears to be a drama about mental health and pharmaceutical abuse; sometimes it’s a symbolic tale about the callousness of the economic system; sometimes it’s a grimy basement horror or a sloppy cop movie. Jang Joon-hwan applies equal measure of intense focus throughout, and Shin Ha-kyun shines, although the protagonist keeps morphing among visionary, charming oddball, and terrifying psycho depending on the narrative's fluidity in mood, viewpoint, and story. One could argue this is intentional, not a mistake, but it can be quite confusing.
Intentional Disorientation
The director likely meant to unsettle spectators, mind. Similar to numerous Korean films of its time, Save the Green Planet! is powered by an exuberant rejection for genre limits partly, and a genuine outrage about societal brutality on the other. The film is a vibrant manifestation of a society finding its global voice during emerging financial and cultural freedoms. It promises to be intriguing to witness how Lanthimos views the same story through a modern Western lens — perhaps, a contrasting viewpoint.
Save the Green Planet! is available to stream without charge.
