Bugonia Can't Possibly Be Weirder Than the Science Fiction Psychological Drama It's Adapted From
Aegean surrealist director Yorgos Lanthimos is known for highly unusual movies. The narratives he creates defy convention, such as The Lobster, in which singletons are compelled to form relationships or else be transformed into creatures. When he adapts another creator's story, he often selects original works that’s quite peculiar too — odder, perhaps, than the version he creates. This proved true for last year's Poor Things, a screen interpretation of the novel by Alasdair Gray delightfully aberrant novel, a feminist, sex-positive reimagining of Frankenstein. The director's adaptation stands strong, but to some extent, his specific style of oddity and Gray’s balance each other.
His New Adaptation
His following selection to interpret similarly emerged from unexpected territory. The source text for Bugonia, his recent collaboration with leading actress Emma Stone, comes from 2004’s Save the Green Planet!, a perplexing Korean mix of styles of sci-fi, dark humor, terror, irony, dark psychodrama, and cop drama. It’s a strange film not primarily due to what it’s about — although that's decidedly unusual — rather because of the chaotic extremity of its tone and storytelling style. It's an insane journey.
A Korean Cinema Explosion
There must have been a creative spirit in South Korea at the start of the millennium. 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 came out the same year as Bong’s Memories of Murder and the filmmaker's Oldboy. Save the Green Planet! isn’t on the same level as those iconic films, but it’s got a lot in common with them: graphic brutality, dark comedy, pointed observations, and defying expectations.
The Story Develops
Save the Green Planet! is about a troubled protagonist who abducts a business tycoon, thinking he's an extraterrestrial from the planet Andromeda, with plans to invade Earth. Early on, this concept unfolds as slapstick humor, and the young man, Lee Byeong-gu (the performer known for Park’s Joint Security Area and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), comes across as a lovably deluded fool. He and his childlike circus-performer girlfriend Su-ni (the star) sport slick rainwear and absurd helmets adorned with anti-mind-control devices, and wield menthol rub in combat. But they do succeed in kidnapping intoxicated executive Kang Man-shik (the performer) and bringing him to the protagonist's isolated home, a dilapidated building assembled at a mining site in the mountains, home to his apiary.
Shifting Tones
From this point, the narrative turns into ever more unsettling. Byeong-gu straps Kang onto a crude contraption and subjects him to harm while spouting absurd conspiracy theories, finally pushing the gentle Su-ni away. However, Kang isn't helpless; driven solely by the certainty of his innate dominance, he can and will to endure horrifying ordeals in hopes of breaking free and exert power over the disturbed protagonist. At the same time, a comically inadequate investigation for the kidnapper begins. The officers' incompetence and clumsiness recalls Memories of Murder, though it may not be as deliberate within a story with a narrative that appears haphazard and unrehearsed.
Constant Shifts
Save the Green Planet! just keeps barrelling onward, propelled by its manic force, breaking rules underfoot, even when it seems likely it to either settle down or falter. Occasionally it feels as a character study about mental health and excessive drug use; in parts it transforms into 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 applies equal measure of intense focus in all scenes, and Shin Ha-kyun delivers a standout performance, although the character of Byeong-gu constantly changes among wise seer, endearing eccentric, and frightening madman depending on the narrative's fluidity in mood, viewpoint, and story. I think that’s a feature, not a bug, but it might feel rather bewildering.
Purposeful Chaos
The director likely meant to disorient his audience, of course. In line with various Korean films from that era, Save the Green Planet! draws energy from a joyful, extreme defiance for genre limits partly, and a profound fury about societal brutality on the other. It’s a roaring expression of a nation gaining worldwide recognition alongside fresh commercial and artistic liberties. It promises to be intriguing to witness the director's interpretation of the original plot from a current U.S. standpoint — arguably, an opposite perspective.
Save the Green Planet! can be viewed online at no cost.
