Bugonia Couldn't Be Stranger Than the Sci-Fi Psychological Drama It's Adapted From
Greek surrealist director Yorgos Lanthimos is known for extremely strange movies. His original stories veer into the bizarre, for instance The Lobster, a film where singletons must partner up or face transformed into creatures. In adapting existing material, he tends to draw from basis material that’s pretty odd also — more bizarre, perhaps, than his cinematic take. Such was the situation regarding the recent Poor Things, a screen interpretation of author Alasdair Gray's delightfully aberrant novel, an empowering, sex-positive spin on Frankenstein. His film is good, but partially, his particular flavor of weirdness and the novelist's cancel each other out.
His New Adaptation
The filmmaker's subsequent choice to interpret similarly emerged from unexpected territory. The basis for Bugonia, his recent collaboration with leading actress Emma Stone, was 2004’s Save the Green Planet!, a confounding Korean genre stew of science fiction, black comedy, terror, satire, psychological thriller, and cop drama. The movie is odd less because of what it’s about — though that is highly unconventional — but due to the wild intensity of its mood and directorial method. The film is a rollercoaster.
A Korean Cinema Explosion
There likely existed a certain energy across Korea in the early 2000s. Save the Green Planet!, the work of Jang Joon-hwan, belonged to a surge of daringly creative, groundbreaking movies from fresh voices of filmmakers like Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook. It came out the same year as Bong’s Memories of Murder and Park’s Oldboy. Save the Green Planet! isn’t on the same level as those two crime masterpieces, but it shares many traits with them: extreme violence, dark comedy, pointed observations, and defying expectations.
The Story Develops
Save the Green Planet! focuses on a disturbed young man who kidnaps a business tycoon, convinced he is a being hailing from Andromeda, with plans to invade Earth. Early on, that idea is presented as broad comedy, and the protagonist, Lee Byeong-gu (the actor Shin known for Park’s Joint Security Area and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), comes across as a charmingly misguided figure. Together with his innocent acrobat girlfriend Su-ni (Hwang Jung-min) wear black PVC ponchos and absurd helmets adorned with psyche-protection gear, and use ointment for defense. But they do succeed in kidnapping drunken CEO Kang Man-shik (actor Baek) and bringing him to Byeong-gu’s remote property, a dilapidated building assembled on an old mine in a rural area, which houses his beehives.
Growing Tension
Moving forward, the narrative turns into something more grotesque. Byeong-gu straps Kang to a budget-Cronenberg torture chair and inflicts pain while ranting absurd conspiracy theories, ultimately forcing the gentle Su-ni away. But Kang is no victim; driven solely by the conviction of his own superiority, he is willing and able to undergo terrifying trials just to try to escape and exert power over the clearly unwell younger man. At the same time, a comically inadequate investigation for the kidnapper gets underway. The detectives' foolishness and clumsiness recalls Memories of Murder, although it may not be as deliberate within a story with a narrative that seems slapdash and spontaneous.
A Frenetic Journey
Save the Green Planet! continues racing ahead, driven by its manic force, defying conventions underfoot, well past it seems likely it to calm down or falter. Sometimes it seems as a character study regarding psychological issues and pharmaceutical abuse; at other times it becomes a symbolic tale on the cruelty of corporate culture; alternately it serves as a grimy basement horror or a bumbling detective tale. Jang Joon-hwan brings the same level of feverish dedication in all scenes, and Shin Ha-kyun shines, while the character of Byeong-gu constantly changes from wise seer, lovable weirdo, and frightening madman depending on the film's ever-changing tone in tone, perspective, and plot. One could argue this is intentional, not a flaw, but it can be rather bewildering.
Intentional Disorientation
The director likely meant to confuse viewers, of course. Like so many Korean films of its time, Save the Green Planet! is powered by an exuberant rejection for artistic rules on one side, and a genuine outrage about human cruelty additionally. It stands as a loud proclamation of a nation establishing its international presence during emerging financial and artistic liberties. One can look forward to witness Lanthimos' perspective on this narrative through a modern Western lens — possibly, a contrasting viewpoint.
Save the Green Planet! is accessible for viewing at no cost.
