Bugonia Isn't Likely to Be Stranger Than the Science Fiction Psychodrama It's Inspired By
Greek avant-garde filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos specializes in extremely strange movies. His unique screenplays defy convention, such as The Lobster, in which unattached individuals need to find love or else be changed into beasts. In adapting another creator's story, he frequently picks basis material that’s rather eccentric also — more bizarre, maybe, than his cinematic take. Such was the situation with 2023’s Poor Things, a screen interpretation of the novel by Alasdair Gray wonderfully twisted novel, a feminist, open-minded take on Frankenstein. Lanthimos’ version stands strong, but to some extent, his unique brand of eccentricity and the novelist's cancel each other out.
Lanthimos’ Next Pick
The filmmaker's subsequent choice for adaptation also came from the fringes. The original work for Bugonia, his recent project alongside leading actress Emma Stone, comes from 2004’s Save the Green Planet!, a perplexing Korean fusion of sci-fi, dark humor, terror, irony, psychological thriller, and cop drama. It's an unusual piece not primarily due to its plot — although that's far from normal — rather because of the wild intensity of its atmosphere and storytelling style. It's an insane journey.
The Burst of Korean Film
There likely existed a certain energy across Korea during that period. Save the Green Planet!, helmed by 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 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 celebrated works, but it shares many traits with them: extreme violence, morbid humor, bitter social commentary, and defying expectations.
Narrative Progression
Save the Green Planet! focuses on an unhinged individual who abducts a corporate CEO, thinking he's a being originating in another galaxy, plotting an attack. Initially, that idea is played as broad comedy, and the young man, Lee Byeong-gu (Shin Ha-kyun from Park’s Joint Security Area and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), appears as a lovably deluded fool. Together with his naive circus-performer girlfriend Su-ni (Hwang Jung-min) sport plastic capes and ridiculous headgear fitted with psyche-protection gear, and use ointment in combat. Yet they accomplish in kidnapping intoxicated executive Kang Man-shik (Baek Yun-shik) and bringing him to Byeong-gu’s remote property, a dilapidated building assembled at a mining site amid the hills, home to his apiary.
Shifting Tones
Moving forward, the story shifts abruptly into increasingly disturbing. Lee fastens Kang onto a crude contraption and subjects him to harm while ranting outlandish ideas, finally pushing his kind girlfriend away. However, Kang isn't helpless; powered only by the certainty of his innate dominance, he is willing and able to subject himself horrifying ordeals in hopes of breaking free and dominate the disturbed protagonist. Meanwhile, a comically inadequate manhunt for the kidnapper commences. The officers' incompetence and clumsiness is reminiscent of Memories of Murder, although the similarity might be accidental in a film with a plot that seems slapdash and improvised.
Unrelenting Pace
Save the Green Planet! plunges forward relentlessly, fueled by its manic force, breaking rules underfoot, long after you might expect it to calm down or lose energy. Occasionally it feels as a character study regarding psychological issues and overmedication; in parts it transforms into a fantasy allegory regarding the indifference of the economic system; sometimes it’s a claustrophobic thriller or a sloppy cop movie. The filmmaker brings the same level of hysterical commitment in all scenes, and the performer shines, although the character of Byeong-gu keeps morphing among savant prophet, lovable weirdo, and terrifying psycho in response to the film's ever-changing tone in mood, viewpoint, and story. It seems this is intentional, not a mistake, but it may prove quite confusing.
Purposeful Chaos
The director likely meant to disorient his audience, indeed. Similar to numerous Korean films from that era, Save the Green Planet! draws energy from a gleeful, maximalist disrespect for genre limits partly, and a genuine outrage about human cruelty in another respect. The film is a vibrant manifestation of a society finding its global voice during emerging financial and social changes. It promises to be intriguing to witness Lanthimos' perspective on this narrative through a modern Western lens — perhaps, a contrasting viewpoint.
Save the Green Planet! can be viewed online for free.
