Bugonia Isn't Likely to Be Weirder Than the Sci-Fi Psychological Drama It's Based On
Aegean surrealist filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos has built a reputation on distinctly odd movies. His original stories defy convention, like The Lobster, a film where unattached individuals must partner up or face transformed into creatures. When he adapts someone else’s work, he frequently picks source material that’s rather eccentric also — more bizarre, perhaps, than his adaptation of it. Such was the situation with 2023’s Poor Things, an adaptation of the novel by Alasdair Gray gloriously perverse novel, a pro-female, liberated take on Frankenstein. Lanthimos’ version is good, but partially, his unique brand of weirdness and Gray’s cancel each other out.
Lanthimos’ Next Pick
Lanthimos’ next pick for adaptation similarly emerged from the fringes. The original work for Bugonia, his latest team-up with leading actress Emma Stone, is 2004’s Save the Green Planet!, a perplexing Korean mix of styles of science fiction, black comedy, horror, satire, psychological thriller, and cop drama. It's an unusual piece not primarily due to its plot — even if that's far from normal — but for the chaotic extremity of its mood and narrative approach. It’s a wild, wild ride.
The Burst of Korean Film
It seems there was a certain energy in South Korea in the early 2000s. Save the Green Planet!, the work of Jang Joon-hwan, was part of a boom of daringly creative, groundbreaking movies by emerging talents of filmmakers such as Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook. It was released alongside the director's Memories of Murder and Park’s Oldboy. Save the Green Planet! isn't as acclaimed as those two crime masterpieces, but there are similarities with them: extreme violence, morbid humor, bitter social commentary, and genre subversion.
Narrative Progression
Save the Green Planet! focuses on a troubled protagonist who abducts a corporate CEO, thinking he's an alien hailing from Andromeda, intent on world domination. Early on, this concept unfolds as farce, and the young man, Lee Byeong-gu (the performer known for Park’s Joint Security Area and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), appears as an endearing eccentric. He and his childlike acrobat girlfriend Su-ni (the actress Hwang) wear slick rainwear and ridiculous headgear fitted with psyche-protection gear, and employ ointment for defense. Yet they accomplish in kidnapping drunken CEO Kang Man-shik (Baek Yun-shik) and transporting him to Byeong-gu’s remote property, a ramshackle house/lab assembled at a mining site in the mountains, which houses his beehives.
A Descent into Darkness
Moving forward, the narrative turns into something more grotesque. Byeong-gu straps Kang to a budget-Cronenberg torture chair and inflicts pain while declaiming outlandish ideas, eventually driving his kind girlfriend away. But Kang is no victim; fueled entirely by the certainty of his own superiority, he is willing and able to undergo awful experiences just to try to escape and dominate the clearly unwell kidnapper. Simultaneously, a notably inept investigation for the abductor begins. The cops’ witlessness and clumsiness recalls Memories of Murder, even if it’s not so clearly intentional within a story with plotting that appears haphazard and spontaneous.
Constant Shifts
Save the Green Planet! just keeps barrelling onward, driven by its manic force, trampling genre norms along the way, well past one would assume it to find stability or lose energy. Sometimes it seems to be a drama regarding psychological issues and overmedication; in parts it transforms into a metaphorical narrative regarding the indifference of the economic system; alternately it serves as a dirty, tense scare-fest or a sloppy cop movie. The filmmaker applies equal measure of intense focus to every bit, and the performer shines, although the protagonist continuously shifts between savant prophet, endearing eccentric, and dangerous lunatic depending on the film's ever-changing tone in mood, viewpoint, and story. One could argue this is intentional, not a mistake, but it might feel pretty disorienting.
Designed to Confuse
Jang probably consciously intended to disorient his audience, mind. In line with various Korean films from that era, Save the Green Planet! draws energy from a joyful, extreme defiance for stylistic boundaries in one aspect, and a profound fury about societal brutality additionally. The film is a vibrant manifestation of a society establishing its international presence alongside fresh commercial and artistic liberties. It promises to be intriguing to observe Lanthimos' perspective on this narrative from contemporary America — possibly, the other end of the telescope.
Save the Green Planet! is accessible for viewing for free.
