🔗 Share this article The New Film Can't Possibly Be Stranger Than the Sci-Fi Psychological Drama It's Adapted From Greek surrealist filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos specializes in distinctly odd movies. His original stories are weird, for instance The Lobster, where singletons must partner up or face changed into beasts. In adapting someone else’s work, he frequently picks basis material that’s pretty odd as well — stranger, maybe, than his adaptation of it. That was the case regarding the recent Poor Things, a screen interpretation of author Alasdair Gray's wonderfully twisted novel, an empowering, liberated reimagining of Frankenstein. His film stands strong, but in a way, his particular flavor of weirdness and the novelist's neutralize one another. The Director's Latest Choice The filmmaker's subsequent choice for adaptation also came from the fringes. The basis for Bugonia, his recent project alongside leading actress Emma Stone, comes from 2004’s Save the Green Planet!, a bewildering Korean mix of styles of science fiction, black comedy, terror, irony, dark psychodrama, and police procedural. It's an unusual piece not so much for its plot — although that's decidedly unusual — but due to the wild intensity of its mood and storytelling style. The film is a rollercoaster. The Burst of Korean Film 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, was part of a surge of daringly creative, boundary-pushing movies from fresh voices of filmmakers such as Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook. It came out alongside Bong’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: graphic brutality, morbid humor, sharp societal critique, and genre subversion. Image: Tartan Video The Story Develops Save the Green Planet! is about an unhinged individual who kidnaps a chemical-company executive, thinking he's a being hailing from Andromeda, plotting an attack. Initially, this concept is presented as slapstick humor, and the lead, Lee Byeong-gu (Shin Ha-kyun known for Park’s Joint Security Area and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), seems like a lovably deluded fool. Alongside his naive entertainer girlfriend Su-ni (the actress Hwang) sport black PVC ponchos and absurd helmets encrusted with psyche-protection gear, and use balm in combat. Yet they accomplish in kidnapping drunken CEO Kang Man-shik (actor Baek) and bringing him to the protagonist's isolated home, a makeshift laboratory he’s built on an old mine in the mountains, where he keeps bees. A Descent into Darkness Moving forward, the story shifts abruptly into something more grotesque. Lee fastens Kang to a budget-Cronenberg torture chair and inflicts pain while ranting outlandish ideas, ultimately forcing the gentle Su-ni away. But Kang is no victim; driven solely by the certainty of his innate dominance, he is willing and able to endure awful experiences in hopes of breaking free and exert power over the clearly unwell protagonist. Simultaneously, a deeply unimpressive investigation to find the criminal gets underway. The officers' incompetence and lack of skill recalls Memories of Murder, though it’s not so clearly intentional within a story with plotting that appears haphazard and improvised. Image: Tartan Video A Frenetic Journey Save the Green Planet! plunges forward relentlessly, fueled by its manic force, defying conventions underfoot, long after it seems likely it to find stability or run out of steam. Sometimes it seems like a serious story on instability and overmedication; at other times it becomes a fantasy allegory on the cruelty of the economic system; in turns it's a grimy basement horror or an incompetent police story. Director Jang maintains a consistent degree of feverish dedication in all scenes, and Shin Ha-kyun is excellent, while the protagonist constantly changes between savant prophet, endearing eccentric, and dangerous lunatic depending on the movie’s constant shifts in tone, perspective, and plot. One could argue this is intentional, not a flaw, but it may prove pretty disorienting. Intentional Disorientation Jang probably consciously intended to confuse viewers, mind. In line with various Korean films of its time, Save the Green Planet! is driven by an exuberant rejection for artistic rules on one side, and a genuine outrage about man’s inhumanity to man on the other. The film is a vibrant manifestation of a nation finding its global voice during emerging financial and artistic liberties. It promises to be intriguing to observe Lanthimos' perspective on the original plot through a modern Western lens — possibly, a contrasting viewpoint. Save the Green Planet! is available to stream for free.