The New Film Isn't Likely to Be More Bizarre Than the Science Fiction Psychological Drama It's Inspired By
Greek avant-garde filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos has built a reputation on highly unusual movies. His original stories veer into the bizarre, like The Lobster, where unattached individuals must partner up or risk transformed into creatures. In adapting existing material, he tends to draw from original works that’s quite peculiar also — more bizarre, maybe, than his adaptation of it. This proved true regarding the recent Poor Things, a film version of Alasdair Gray’s wonderfully twisted novel, an empowering, sex-positive take on Frankenstein. His film stands strong, but in a way, his unique brand of oddity and Gray’s cancel each other out.
The Director's Latest Choice
His following selection to bring to screen was likewise drawn from unexpected territory. The original work for Bugonia, his recent collaboration with star Emma Stone, was 2004’s Save the Green Planet!, a bewildering Korean fusion of science fiction, black comedy, horror, satire, dark psychodrama, and cop drama. It’s a strange film less because of its plot — though that is highly unconventional — rather because of the frenzied excess of its atmosphere and narrative approach. It's an insane journey.
A New Wave of Filmmaking
There must have been a creative spirit across Korea in the early 2000s. Save the Green Planet!, the work of Jang Joon-hwan, was part of an explosion of daringly creative, boundary-pushing movies from a new generation of filmmakers such as Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook. It was released concurrently with Bong’s Memories of Murder and the filmmaker's Oldboy. Save the Green Planet! doesn't quite match up as those two crime masterpieces, but it’s got a lot in common with them: extreme violence, morbid humor, pointed observations, and genre subversion.
The Story Develops
Save the Green Planet! revolves around a troubled protagonist who abducts a business tycoon, convinced he is an alien from the planet Andromeda, plotting an attack. Early on, this concept is played as slapstick humor, and the protagonist, Lee Byeong-gu (Shin Ha-kyun from Park’s Joint Security Area and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), seems like a charmingly misguided figure. Alongside his innocent circus-performer girlfriend Su-ni (the star) sport black PVC ponchos and ridiculous headgear adorned with mental shields, and employ ointment as a weapon. Yet they accomplish in abducting drunken CEO Kang Man-shik (Baek Yun-shik) and bringing him to a secluded location, a dilapidated building assembled on an old mine amid the hills, where he keeps bees.
Growing Tension
Moving forward, the film veers quickly into increasingly disturbing. The protagonist ties Kang into a makeshift device and physically abuses him while ranting absurd conspiracy theories, ultimately forcing his kind girlfriend away. Yet the captive is resilient; fueled entirely by the belief of his innate dominance, he is willing and able to subject himself awful experiences to attempt an exit and exert power over the disturbed younger man. Simultaneously, a notably inept investigation for the abductor gets underway. The cops’ witlessness and lack of skill recalls Memories of Murder, although the similarity might be accidental within a story with a plot that appears haphazard and improvised.
Constant Shifts
Save the Green Planet! continues racing ahead, propelled by its own crazed energy, trampling genre norms without pause, well past it seems likely it to either settle down or falter. At moments it appears to be a drama regarding psychological issues and overmedication; in parts it transforms into a symbolic tale regarding the indifference of capitalism; in turns it's a claustrophobic thriller or a sloppy cop movie. The filmmaker maintains a consistent degree of feverish dedication throughout, and Shin Ha-kyun shines, while the character of Byeong-gu keeps morphing from visionary, endearing eccentric, and dangerous lunatic depending on the movie’s constant shifts in tone, perspective, and plot. It seems it's by design, not a mistake, but it might feel pretty disorienting.
Intentional Disorientation
The director likely meant to confuse viewers, indeed. Similar to numerous Korean films from that era, Save the Green Planet! draws energy from a gleeful, maximalist disrespect for artistic rules partly, and a quite sincere anger about societal brutality in another respect. The film is a vibrant manifestation of a society establishing its international presence amid new economic and social changes. It will be fascinating to witness Lanthimos' perspective on the same story from contemporary America — possibly, the other end of the telescope.
Save the Green Planet! is available to stream without charge.
