Bugonia Can't Possibly Be Stranger Than the Sci-Fi Psychological Drama It's Adapted From
Greek surrealist filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos specializes in distinctly odd movies. The narratives he creates veer into the bizarre, like The Lobster, where unattached individuals need to find love or else be being turned into animals. When he adapts someone else’s work, he often selects original works that’s pretty odd too — odder, possibly, than the version he creates. Such was the situation regarding the recent Poor Things, an adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s delightfully aberrant novel, an empowering, sex-positive reimagining of Frankenstein. The director's adaptation is effective, but to some extent, his particular flavor of eccentricity and the novelist's balance each other.
The Director's Latest Choice
Lanthimos’ next pick for adaptation was likewise drawn from unexpected territory. The original work for Bugonia, his recent project alongside leading actress Emma Stone, was 2004’s Save the Green Planet!, a confounding Korean fusion of science fiction, black comedy, horror, irony, psychological thriller, and police procedural. It’s a strange film not primarily due to its plot — although that's decidedly unusual — but due to the wild intensity of its atmosphere and directorial method. The film is a rollercoaster.
A Korean Cinema Explosion
It seems there was a creative spirit in South Korea during that period. Save the Green Planet!, written and directed by Jang Joon-hwan, belonged to a boom of audacious in style, boundary-pushing movies by emerging talents of filmmakers including Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook. It came out concurrently with Bong’s Memories of Murder and the filmmaker's Oldboy. Save the Green Planet! isn’t on the same level as those celebrated works, but there are similarities with them: extreme violence, morbid humor, bitter social commentary, and bending rules.
The Plot Unfolds
Save the Green Planet! focuses on a troubled protagonist who kidnaps a corporate CEO, thinking he's a being originating in another galaxy, with plans to invade Earth. At first, the premise is presented as slapstick humor, and the lead, Lee Byeong-gu (the actor Shin from Park’s Joint Security Area and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), seems like a charmingly misguided figure. Alongside his childlike entertainer girlfriend Su-ni (the star) sport black PVC ponchos and absurd helmets adorned with mental shields, and employ balm for defense. Yet they accomplish in kidnapping drunken CEO Kang Man-shik (Baek Yun-shik) and bringing him to Byeong-gu’s remote property, a makeshift laboratory he’s built on an old mine in a rural area, where he keeps bees.
Growing Tension
Hereafter, the narrative turns into something more grotesque. Lee fastens Kang to a budget-Cronenberg torture chair and subjects him to harm while ranting bizarre plots, finally pushing the gentle Su-ni away. However, Kang isn't helpless; fueled entirely by the belief of his elevated status, he is willing and able to undergo awful experiences in hopes of breaking free and exert power over the disturbed protagonist. Simultaneously, a comically inadequate manhunt for the abductor begins. The officers' incompetence and lack of skill is reminiscent of Memories of Murder, even if it may not be as deliberate in a film with plotting that appears haphazard and unrehearsed.
Constant Shifts
Save the Green Planet! plunges forward relentlessly, fueled by its manic force, trampling genre norms without pause, long after you might expect it to either settle down or falter. Occasionally it feels as a character study regarding psychological issues and overmedication; sometimes it’s a symbolic tale about the callousness of corporate culture; sometimes it’s a grimy basement horror or a sloppy cop movie. Director Jang brings the same level of intense focus in all scenes, and Shin Ha-kyun is excellent, while the character of Byeong-gu keeps morphing among savant prophet, lovable weirdo, and frightening madman depending on the movie’s constant shifts in tone, perspective, and plot. One could argue it's by design, not a mistake, but it might feel quite confusing.
Purposeful Chaos
Jang probably consciously intended to disorient his audience, indeed. Similar to numerous Korean films from that era, Save the Green Planet! draws energy from an exuberant rejection for stylistic boundaries on one side, and a profound fury about man’s inhumanity to man in another respect. It stands as a loud proclamation of a nation gaining worldwide recognition alongside fresh commercial and artistic liberties. It will be fascinating to see the director's interpretation of the same story from contemporary America — arguably, a contrasting viewpoint.
Save the Green Planet! is accessible for viewing without charge.