Bugonia Can't Possibly Be Stranger Than the Sci-Fi Psychodrama It's Adapted From
Greek avant-garde filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos is known for distinctly odd movies. His unique screenplays defy convention, such as The Lobster, in which singletons are compelled to form relationships or else be transformed into creatures. Whenever he interprets existing material, he frequently picks original works that’s quite peculiar too — odder, maybe, than his adaptation of it. This proved true regarding the recent Poor Things, a film version of author Alasdair Gray's gloriously perverse novel, a pro-female, sex-positive reimagining of Frankenstein. The director's adaptation is good, but partially, his unique brand of weirdness and the novelist's cancel each other out.
His New Adaptation
The filmmaker's subsequent choice for adaptation was likewise drawn from far out in left field. The basis for Bugonia, his newest team-up with star Emma Stone, was 2004’s Save the Green Planet!, a bewildering Korean mix of styles of sci-fi, black comedy, terror, satire, dark psychodrama, and cop drama. The movie is odd not primarily due to its plot — even if that's highly unconventional — but for the wild intensity of its atmosphere and narrative approach. It's an insane journey.
A Korean Cinema Explosion
There must have been something in the air within the country in the early 2000s. Save the Green Planet!, written and directed by Jang Joon-hwan, belonged to an explosion of daringly creative, innovative movies from fresh voices of filmmakers including Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook. It debuted concurrently with the director's Memories of Murder and the filmmaker's Oldboy. Save the Green Planet! doesn't quite match up as those two crime masterpieces, but there are similarities with them: graphic brutality, dark comedy, sharp societal critique, and genre subversion.
The Plot Unfolds
Save the Green Planet! focuses on a troubled protagonist who abducts a corporate CEO, believing he’s a being hailing from Andromeda, plotting an attack. Initially, this concept is played as broad comedy, and the protagonist, Lee Byeong-gu (Shin Ha-kyun from Park’s Joint Security Area and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), seems like an endearing eccentric. He and his childlike circus-performer girlfriend Su-ni (Hwang Jung-min) wear plastic capes and bizarre masks fitted with psyche-protection gear, and employ ointment as a weapon. But they do succeed in kidnapping drunken CEO Kang Man-shik (actor Baek) and taking him to the protagonist's isolated home, a makeshift laboratory he’s built in a former excavation in the mountains, home to his apiary.
Growing Tension
Moving forward, the narrative turns into increasingly disturbing. Byeong-gu straps Kang into a makeshift device and physically abuses him while ranting bizarre plots, ultimately forcing the innocent partner away. However, Kang isn't helpless; driven solely by the belief of his elevated status, he can and will to subject himself horrifying ordeals in hopes of breaking free and exert power over the disturbed kidnapper. Simultaneously, a comically inadequate investigation to find the criminal commences. The cops’ witlessness and clumsiness is reminiscent of Memories of Murder, although it may not be as deliberate within a story with plotting that appears haphazard and unrehearsed.
A Frenetic Journey
Save the Green Planet! just keeps barrelling onward, propelled by its wild momentum, defying conventions along the way, even when it seems likely it to either settle down or run out of steam. Sometimes it seems to be a drama regarding psychological issues and overmedication; at other times it becomes a fantasy allegory on the cruelty of corporate culture; in turns it's a claustrophobic thriller or a bumbling detective tale. The filmmaker maintains a consistent degree of hysterical commitment in all scenes, and Shin Ha-kyun shines, even though the protagonist constantly changes from wise seer, endearing eccentric, and terrifying psycho depending on the movie’s constant shifts in tone, perspective, and plot. It seems that’s a feature, not a bug, but it may prove pretty disorienting.
Purposeful Chaos
The director likely meant to disorient his audience, mind. Similar to numerous Korean films of its time, Save the Green Planet! is powered by an exuberant rejection for stylistic boundaries in one aspect, and a profound fury about man’s inhumanity to man in another respect. The film is a vibrant manifestation of a society gaining worldwide recognition amid new economic and social changes. One can look forward to observe Lanthimos' perspective on the original plot from a current U.S. standpoint — perhaps, an opposite perspective.
Save the Green Planet! is accessible for viewing without charge.
