The New Film Isn't Likely to Be Stranger Than the Sci-Fi Psychodrama It's Inspired By
Aegean surrealist filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos has built a reputation on highly unusual movies. His unique screenplays are weird, such as The Lobster, where single people are compelled to form relationships or face changed into beasts. Whenever he interprets someone else’s work, he frequently picks original works that’s rather eccentric as well — stranger, perhaps, than the version he creates. That was the case regarding the recent Poor Things, an adaptation of the novel by Alasdair Gray delightfully aberrant novel, a pro-female, liberated spin on Frankenstein. Lanthimos’ version is good, but to some extent, his particular flavor of weirdness and Gray’s balance each other.
Lanthimos’ Next Pick
The filmmaker's subsequent choice to interpret also came from the fringes. The basis for Bugonia, his newest team-up with acclaimed performer Emma Stone, was 2004’s Save the Green Planet!, a bewildering Korean fusion of sci-fi, black comedy, horror, satire, psychological thriller, and police procedural. It’s a strange film less because of what it’s about — even if that's decidedly unusual — but due to the wild intensity of its atmosphere and narrative approach. It’s a wild, wild ride.
A New Wave of Filmmaking
There likely existed a creative spirit across Korea during that period. Save the Green Planet!, the work of Jang Joon-hwan, belonged to a boom of stylistically bold, boundary-pushing movies from fresh voices of filmmakers such as Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook. It was released concurrently with Bong’s Memories of Murder and Park’s Oldboy. Save the Green Planet! isn't as acclaimed as those celebrated works, but it’s got a lot in common with them: extreme violence, morbid humor, bitter social commentary, and defying expectations.
The Story Develops
Save the Green Planet! focuses on an unhinged individual who captures a corporate CEO, believing he’s a being hailing from Andromeda, with plans to invade Earth. At first, that idea is played as farce, and the young man, Lee Byeong-gu (the performer known for Park’s Joint Security Area and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), comes across as an endearing eccentric. Alongside his childlike acrobat girlfriend Su-ni (Hwang Jung-min) wear plastic capes and absurd helmets fitted with psyche-protection gear, and use balm in combat. Yet they accomplish in seizing intoxicated executive Kang Man-shik (the performer) and transporting him to Byeong-gu’s remote property, a makeshift laboratory assembled at a mining site amid the hills, home to his apiary.
A Descent into Darkness
Moving forward, the narrative turns into ever more unsettling. The protagonist ties Kang to a budget-Cronenberg torture chair and physically abuses him while declaiming bizarre plots, eventually driving the innocent partner away. However, Kang isn't helpless; fueled entirely by the belief of his own superiority, he is prepared and capable to undergo awful experiences in hopes of breaking free and exert power over the disturbed kidnapper. Simultaneously, a deeply unimpressive police hunt for the abductor commences. The detectives' foolishness and clumsiness recalls Memories of Murder, even if the similarity might be accidental in a movie with a plot that seems slapdash and spontaneous.
Unrelenting Pace
Save the Green Planet! plunges forward relentlessly, driven by its manic force, breaking rules underfoot, well past one would assume it to calm down or falter. Occasionally it feels like a serious story regarding psychological issues and pharmaceutical abuse; in parts it transforms into a metaphorical narrative regarding the indifference of the economic system; sometimes it’s a grimy basement horror or a bumbling detective tale. Jang Joon-hwan brings the same level of intense focus throughout, and Shin Ha-kyun is excellent, while the protagonist continuously shifts from wise seer, endearing eccentric, and terrifying psycho depending on the narrative's fluidity in mood, viewpoint, and story. It seems it's by design, not a flaw, but it may prove pretty disorienting.
Intentional Disorientation
Jang probably consciously intended to disorient his audience, mind. Similar to numerous Korean films from that era, Save the Green Planet! is driven by a joyful, extreme defiance for stylistic boundaries on one side, and a profound fury about societal brutality additionally. The film is a vibrant manifestation of a nation finding its global voice during emerging financial and social changes. It will be fascinating to see Lanthimos' perspective on this narrative from a current U.S. standpoint — perhaps, an opposite perspective.
Save the Green Planet! can be viewed online at no cost.
